ABSTRACT
This Note unearths the history of how LGBTQ people used the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) to vindicate their rights and protect their basic dignity, from the height of the AIDS epidemic until today. In so doing, the Note challenges the common view that IIED is a purely majoritarian tort that enforces prevailing communal norms of right and wrong. Instead, the history of LGBTQ IIED shows that the tort can serve as a tool for responding to majoritarian domination and protecting those most vulnerable to hatred and abuse. The Note provides a path forward to reconcile the recent clash between IIED and the First Amendment, showing that-in light of IIED’s ability to bring more people to the expressive table-the two can be friends rather than foes. In this respect, LGBTQ law and experience can provide insight for the future of dignitary tort law more broadly.
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Gabriel L Klapholz, Queer Outrage: Why the Legal Vindication of LGBTQ Feelings Can Transform Dignitary Tort Law, 24 Dukeminier Awards: Best Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Law Review 209 (2025).
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