Two Peters: Queer Domestic Space and Artist’s Sensibility in Soviet Latvia

Abstract

The article focuses on the phenomenon of queer domesticity in Latvia in the 20th century, analysing evidence of a homosexual couple living together in a house they built in Rīga. Adapting to different political regimes, two men who met while working in the theatre could maintain their lives together for about twenty years. To do this, they had to use various adaptation tactics and subterfuge and create their own concept of family in their daily lives. Their subterfuge tactics have been so successful that their queerness and cohabitation are forgotten today. This case study adds to the knowledge of queerness during the Soviet era by highlighting the complex relationship between personal freedom and conformism concerning state power in the artistic environment.