Transgender Identity, Religion, and Law: The Coloniality of Gender and the Constitutional Limits of Religious Freedom

Abstract

This article examines, from a critical-hermeneutic and theoretical-normative perspective, the relationship between transgender identity, religion, and law, focusing on the constitutional limits of religious freedom when its manifestations produce external effects on trans individuals. It addresses the problem of how the critique of the coloniality of gender contributes to interpreting human dignity, substantive equality, and state secularism within Brazilian constitutional law. The study aims to propose an interpretative framework capable of refining the legal analysis of conflicts between religious autonomy and anti-discrimination principles. Methodologically, this is a qualitative, theoretical-normative study based on bibliographic review and analysis of Brazilian Supreme Court case law. The Court’s jurisprudence is not treated as empirical confirmation, but as a field for problematizing the advances and limits of constitutional protection of gender identity. The article argues that religious freedom cannot be understood as an absolute sphere of immunity and must be limited in light of its external effects. It concludes that the protection of trans individuals requires a material interpretation of human dignity, equality, and secularism, capable of distinguishing protected religious belief from discriminatory practices incompatible with the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 (BRASIL, 1988).