Book Discussion: The Emotions of LGBT Rights and Reforms: Repairing Law by Dr Senthorun Raj

Emotions are central to the pursuit, organisation, and contestation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in law. Dr Raj will present his new book, The Emotions of LGBT Rights and Reforms: Repairing Law (Edinburgh University Press, 2025), which explores how emotions shape conflicts of rights that emerge between different groups across law reforms aimed at better supporting LGBT people. This book considers the emotional dynamics that underscore contemporary law reform debates about religious exceptions to anti-discrimination laws, legal gender recognition, bans on “conversion therapy,” and sex and LGBT education in schools from jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States.

Drawing from critical legal theories that span Law & Emotion, Queer, Feminist, and Critical Race scholarship, this book coins the concept of “emotional grammar” to show how emotions structure law reform pursuits by threading together Hansard, legislation, case law, law reform consultations, and statutory guidance. By doing so, Dr Raj will reflect on why addressing this emotional grammar is important for scholars, lawyers, judges, legislators, and activists seeking to navigate conflicts over LGBT rights and reforms that aim to repair the inequalities faced by LGBT people during a time of hostility and retrenchment.

Dr Senthorun (Sen) Raj is an Associate Professor of Human Rights Law at Manchester Law School. Sen’s academic and advocacy work take an intersectional approach to examining the relationship between emotion, culture, race, gender, sexuality, and law across different jurisdictions. He is the author of two monographs, Feeling Queer Jurisprudence: Injury, Intimacy, Identity (Routledge, 2020) and The Emotions of LGBT Rights and Reforms: Repairing Law (forthcoming with Edinburgh University Press). He is the co-editor of The Queer Outside in Law: Recognising LGBTIQ People in the United Kingdom (Palgrave, 2020) and Queer Judgments (Counterpress, 2025). He currently serves on the editorial board of Feminist Legal Studies and Palgrave’s Socio-Legal Studies Book Series. Sen is the former chair of Amnesty International UK. 

Amy Kerr is a DPhil in Law Candidate at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on International Human Rights Law's binary understanding of gender and sexuality, and draws on queer and decolonial theory to explore opportunities for reimagination. Prior to the DPhil, Amy studied the BCL and and BA Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford. 

Hybrid Event

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