Abstract
This paper will explore the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ advocates in the Middle East and North Africa region in the 21stcentury in scholarly and cultural discourses. It will explore how these advocates can continue to create cultural waves by separating themselves from international Islamophobic and local anti-LGBTQ+ cultural dialogues. Its methodology will explore scholarly debates within the literature and cultural debates in the region and it will adopt a Postcolonial International Relations (IR) theoretical framework and using critical cultural theory. It will apply the scholarship on the topic to two previously unexplored case studies in contemporary Egypt and Lebanon. The paper will conclude that the legacy of colonial domination still impacts cultural dialogues in the region. However, LGBTQ+ advocates can navigate the cultural discourse to promote indigenous LGBTQ+ rights discourses, and the chosen theoretical framework is a useful framework through which to study modern events in IR.
Highlights
We are caught between neo-colonial agendas on the one hand, and regressive, oppressive local governments on the other. — (Helem, 2006)LGBTQ+ advocates in the Middle East and North Africa MENA (‘the region’, ‘the Arab world’) face challenges from both repressive domestic and international rights discourses
Domestic discourses construct LGBTQ+ identity as alien to regional cultural identity, justifying the legal and social repression of LGBTQ+ rights and people. Scholars such as Massad (2002) contribute to discourses presenting LGBTQ+ identity as a Western incursion in their critique of the cultural essentialism of International LGBTQ+ (ILGBTQ+) rights groups. These two discourses converge to present LGBTQ+ rights discourses and advocacy as inherently foreign to regional cultural identity
The recent emergence of sexual politics as a site of political domination lies in State socio-economic weaknesses, including financial and political crises
Summary
We are caught between neo-colonial agendas on the one hand, and regressive, oppressive local governments on the other. Domestic discourses construct LGBTQ+ identity as alien to regional cultural identity, justifying the legal and social repression of LGBTQ+ rights and people. Scholars such as Massad (2002) contribute to discourses presenting LGBTQ+ identity as a Western incursion in their critique of the cultural essentialism of International LGBTQ+ (ILGBTQ+) rights groups. These two discourses converge to present LGBTQ+ rights discourses and advocacy as inherently foreign to regional cultural identity. The strategies of some LGBTQ+ advocates in the region position their advocacy to oppose both of these discourses, constructing a counter-hegemonic movement through a war of position
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
