O direito ao nome social de estudantes trans e travestis menores: a dignidade da pessoa humana na escola amazonense

Abstract

This study is affiliated with the Graduate Program in Education at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) and follows Research Line 02, “Education, Public Policies, and Regional Development.” It is recognized that discourse on LGBTQIAPN+ issues is no longer in its infancy; debates have moved beyond the purely theoretical and are now reframed around the realization of rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution—rights which, on occasion, remain unimplemented in social practice. Scholarship in this field predominantly advances the narrative that constitutional rights belong to all individuals, and that the State, as a federative entity, bears both the power and the duty to enforce them impartially. In this context—following Brazil’s redemocratization and the community’s struggle for visibility—the LGBTQIAPN+ movement, despite enduring tensions, has secured same sex civil unions, adoption rights, and the criminalization of homophobia. On matters of gender identity, trans persons have obtained access to gender affirming surgery consistent with their self identification, hormone therapy through the Unified Health System (SUS), legal change of given name at the civil registry, and, as a form of identity affirmation, the establishment of a social name—particularly within educational settings. The latter measure, however, continues to provoke extensive debate and reveal deeply rooted prejudice. The challenge intensifies when addressing the social names of pubescent minors, who lack autonomy to choose how they are addressed without their legal guardians’ consent. The objective of this study is to examine the dignity of the human person from a holistic perspective, problematizing the principle that trans individuals should be addressed by their self identified names—even prior to reaching the age of majority—and especially within the school environment. Given the scarcity of scholarship on the dignity of pubescent minors who identify as trans and pursue their social or legal names, this research is temporally delimited to 2016–2025, with Decree No. 7.727/2016 (Brazil, 2016) serving as a pivotal reference for the present defense—without excluding selective analysis of earlier documents. Methodologically, the study combines a documentary approach—unpacking educational materials pertinent to the Amazonian school context that address trans minority—and a bibliographical review of the limited existing literature and current Amazonas legislation on social names. Furthermore, the research adopts both exploratory and explanatory dimensions: exploratory, due to the under researched nature of the topic; explanatory, as it scrutinizes the rights to social names held by pubescent minors as dignified subjects within the educational sphere. Employing a hermeneutic dialectical method, the study interrogates national and Amazonas public policy within their legal frameworks and exposes contradictions in school practice through a comparative analysis of legal rights and data drawn from national and regional newspapers and deliberations of the National Education Council (CNE). Central to this inquiry is reflection on the dignity of the human person in minority, since conflicts between parental authority and the rights of pubescent minors—when those minors are prevented from using their social names in school—constitute a direct clash among human dignity, familial power, and the State’s endorsement of an enduring injustice within educational settings. In light of social progress, the present discussion is justified by the urgency and contemporaneity of the theme: the inability of pubescent minors to self identify without guardian authorization transcends individual identity, constituting an affront to the Constitution. Although significant advances have been made regarding social names, this research demonstrates that discourse must further expand to encompass pubescent minors—who are full rights bearing subjects entitled to determine how they are addressed in schools—lest their dignity be compromised. This calls for amendment of the current legal framework through federal legislation- with erga omnes effect.