Abstract
Queerness is now global. Many emerging economies of the global South are experiencing queer mobilization and sexual identity politics raising fundamental questions of citizenship and human rights on the one hand; and discourses of nationalism, cultural identity, imperialism, tradition and family-values on the other. While some researchers argue that with economic globalization in the developing world, a Western, hegemonic notion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identity has been exported to traditional societies thereby destroying indigenous sexual cultures and diversities, other scholars do not consider globalization as a significant factor in global queer mobilization and sexual identity politics. This paper aims at exploring the debate around globalization and contemporary queer politics in developing world with special reference to India. After briefly tracing the history of sexual identity politics, this paper examines the process of queer mobilization in relation to emergence of HIV/AIDS epidemic and forces of neoliberal globalization. I argue that the twin-process of globalization and AIDS epidemic has significantly influenced the mobilization of queer communities, while simultaneously strengthening right wing "homophobic" discourses of heterosexist nationalism in India.
Highlights
This paper aims to capture the debate around mobilization of queer communities for their civil and political rights and analyze the emerging politics of
While some researchers [4,7,8,9,10] contend that with economic globalization in the developing world, a Western, hegemonic notion of LGBT identity has been exported to traditional societies thereby destroying indigenous sexual cultures and diversities, other scholars [11] do not consider globalization as a significant factor for global queer mobilization and sexual identity politics
A cursory look at the present cartography of the globe reveals that countries where LGBT identities are emerging broadly correspond with global-South that have recently opened up their economies to neoliberal capital by adopting IMF-sponsored structural adjustment program wherein homosexuality still remains "illegal" [12]
Summary
This paper is organized into following three sections: in the first section, I briefly review the history of emerging sexual identity politics in India and some of the recent movements and grassroots activism of various NGOs and civil society institutions toward mainstreaming sexual minority groups. 66–68), I only examine two important factors of Western donor and local NGO discourses on sexual rights and looming HIV/AIDS epidemic in India; and the ways in which these two processes have been mediated through globalization to influence the LBGT/queer identity politics in India. Summers (1995) point out that the relative openness of this small group of writers was perhaps largely due to their diasporic locations They live in either the United States or Britain, countries that have well-established gay and lesbian communities with a tradition of organized resistance and have greater sexual and artistic freedom and wider publishing opportunities [40]. Trade liberalization, and opening of Indian economy to foreign direct investment in 1991, the process of
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