International LGBT Research Articles

One foreign force, two nationalisms: How Chinese nationalism resists external LGBT human rights pressure

International pressure on human rights can mobilize domestic social and political change but can also be manipulated and resisted, which necessitates exploring the problems and mechanisms within human rights discourses. Focusing on Chinese LGBT issues and examining Chinese sexual nationalist discourses, this study investigates how Chinese nationalism is employed to resist international LGBT rights pressure. It reveals that, although external entities have pressured LGBT rights through naming, shaming, and even direct advocacy, these external pressures face two dilemmas rooted in the principles of particularism and noninterference. These dilemmas have become significant points of contention for the Chinese state and nationalists, who respond to external LGBT rights pressure by emphasizing discourses of authenticity and security. Specifically, Chinese nationalist discourse leverages the principle of particularism to emphasize its distinctive sexual traditions and values, while employing the principle of noninterference to manipulate external LGBT rights pressure as originating from hostile foreign forces. Notably, Chinese nationalism is not a monolithic ideology; instead, it encompasses two contrasting forms of sexual nationalism—namely, macho nationalism and homonationalism. Despite differences in defining authentic Chinese sexual traditions, both forms of nationalism converge in perceiving external LGBT support as foreign forces.

Media, cruising, gay sex and tourist destinations

The increasing visibility of gay tourism in digital media generates debates around certain practices that are not tied to heteronormativity, as is the case with cruising. This study explores the contradictions generated by cruising as a potential tourist resource based on debates reproduced in digital media. Specifically, it examines one of the most important international LGBT+ tourist destinations, Maspalomas, and one of the best-known settings for this type of practice: the Maspalomas sand dunes.

Places of recreation, places of memory: tourism in the heritagisation of LGBT+ identities

ABSTRACT The analysis of LGBT+ memories and identities has been neglected in processes of heritagisation. This is despite numerous attempts undertaken by various institutions to promote a more inclusive notion of heritage, which incorporates cultural diversity and the demands of social sectors that have previously been ignored in heritage policies. This study contributes to the literature by examining the incipient recognition of heritage that contributes to the visibility and normalisation of sexual diversity. We focus on tourism and leisure contexts, which have played an important role in disseminating certain perspectives on sexual diversity. Specifically, we highlight how the confluence of the market, transformations in heritage systems, and ways of depicting the LGBT+ narrative reveals new processes of recognition for LGBT+ heritage. In the process of heritagisation, tourism and leisure serve as narrative pillars of memories and identities. This study explores these aspects by focusing on a Spanish town, Torremolinos, which has become one of the most important international LGBT+ tourist destinations.

Digital Homophobia

ABSTRACT This article examines the emergence of digital homophobia in Indonesia as an assemblage of homophobic discourses imbued with a language of urgency, technological infrastructures, and punitive laws on non-normative sexualities. The internationalisation of LGBT rights has provided discursive capital for anti-LGBT groups to generate affective qualities (fear and moral panic), positioning queer people as a ‘threat’ to national identity, ‘traditional values’, and ‘vectors of disease’ intent on ‘converting’ others to homosexuality. Moreover, technological infrastructure, such as social media, fosters and amplifies the circulation of homophobic rhetoric. Such technologies have enabled citizens to persecute and shame LGBT people directly, and increasingly demand that the state enact punitive laws on gender and sexuality through the use of online petitions and other online surveillance practices that affect queer people beyond the digital space. These movements are legally justified by existing regulations, often associating homosexuality with pornography and social indecency, manifested in local and national laws that do not always specifically target homosexuality. As a result, digital homophobia moves beyond the online space, deeply affecting the material life of the Indonesian queer community and activism. For instance, activists, fearing reprisal, have begun carrying out their activities surreptitiously. This analysis makes a contribution to existing scholarship on global homophobia, surveillance, and technocultural and sexual globalisation by highlighting the interplay of technology, homophobic discourses, and public policy in responding to the proliferation of international LGBT rights discourses.

A ESTRATÉGIA DE (RE)CATEGORIZAÇÃO NA INTERFACE ENTRE POLIDEZ E IMPOLIDEZ LINGUÍSTICA

From the understanding that communication is established to maintain social relations and not just to inform something, many linguists have become concerned with studying the issues of politeness and impoliteness as sociated with these social manifestations of communication. In this sense, ou rresearch aimed to understand the recategorization process as na instrument of interface between polite and impolite language. From the analysis of the internal communication action promoted by the Coca-Cola company to celebrate the International LGBT Pride Day in 2017. To conduct this research, we sought to make a case study about the campaign “This Coca-Cola is Fanta. Sowhat?”. Based on the studies in the área of ”‹”‹politeness by Leech (1983), Brown and Levinson (1987), and the área of ”‹”‹gender with Butler (1990, 1993) and, in the area of ”‹”‹recategorization, with Apothéloz and Reichler-Béguelin(1995) and Jaguaribe (2007), we observed that the process of recategorization occurred in two situations: the first was in the material level from the discursive resumption of a typically offensive idiom against the LGBT group and the insertion of a new expression; The second was on the social level with the suggestion of a change in the people´s expression and attitude. Thus, we conclude that the recategorization process could not be seen, in this issue, as just a process of retaking the referent and its transformation, since, in the campaign of the soft drink brand under consideration, we realized that this process was still capable of generating a social change (beyond the pack aging of the can), thus demonstrating another level of recategorization, that is, the ability to transform a typically na impolite expression into a polite one.
 
 

Immigration and Asylum for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals do not have equal or full human rights when compared to heterosexual individuals, families, and couples. In many countries around the world, LGBT individuals do not have a legal right to safety, to engage in consensual sex, get married, have children, or to be free of discrimination in housing, work, or public accommodation. In several countries, the governmental response to LGBT individuals is to jail or sentence them to death as a consequence. LGBT individuals may apply for asylum to the United States (U.S.), Canada, and the United Kingdom (U.K.) for these reasons. Frequently, applications to the U.S. are denied because the U.S. continues to discriminate against LGBT individuals. In addition, the U.S. discriminates against international LGBT couples and their children by denying their children U.S. citizenship. The aim of this paper is to present the global context regarding discrimination and immigration as a base to examine the impact of discrimination, immigration, and asylum requests in the U.S. This paper will review major legal cases involving LGBT individuals in order to recommend best ethical practices for social and political action. The role of social workers as change agents is explored.

Same-sex lives between the language of international LGBT rights, international aid, and anti-homosexuality

This article considers how international development aid is used in engaging with sexuality rights in Africa. It considers both the emergence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights as aid conditionality in international aid relations and responses to these from African political leaders. The central issue identified is that political leaders for and against these rights have marginalized and ignored voices of the sexually diverse people in their engagements in African settings. Here, a problem emerges that people’s own claims for rights are subsumed within the broader agendas set by politicians at international and national levels. This article analyzes these relations and their outcomes for activists and civil society groups in diverse African settings by considering the language of LGBT rights used by international political actors and the ways in which African political leaders develop their own language on the issue.

Critical oral history: Reflections on method and medium

This paper presents my reflections on the use of critical oral history method for a participatory, community-based international LGBT human rights research project. Although critical oral history m...

Globalised Imaginaries of Love and Hate: Immutability, Violence, and LGBT Human Rights

The U.S.-led global LGBT human rights campaign, formalised on International Human Rights Day 2011, sutures human rights policing with a politics of protection. Centred on a singular LGBT victim of violence, the campaign’s multiple projects legitimate military and financial intervention under the auspices of human rights. This article examines the regulatory production of globalised LGBT rights through the nexus of international LGBT human rights/hate crime laws, U.S. asylum law, and equal protection treatment of sexual orientation. I argue that the juridical and ideological frameworks that guide state action in each of these areas converge in the construction of an immutable LGBT identity that is the object of racialised, culturally othered violence. This rendering of sexual difference through the flattening of culture elides structural violence and advances human rights imperialism.

Human Rights INGOs, LGBT INGOs, and LGBT Policy Diffusion, 1991–2015

Since the late 1990s, a growing body of literature has researched the cross-national diffusion of policies that affect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities. Studies stemming from world society consider how state ties to newly emergent global norms regarding the treatment of LGBT communities are a driver of this process. A shortcoming of these studies, however, is that they do not adequately consider which type of ties to global norms are most meaningful for policy adoption. Considering the ever-increasing notion that LGBT rights are human rights, this study contrasts the role of human rights international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and LGBT INGOs on LGBT policy diffusion between 1991 and 2015. While previous studies assume a global norm exists, focus on a narrow band of policies, or restrict analyses to key geographic areas, this study develops a new measure of global LGBT norms and offers a comprehensive LGBT Policy Index for a global sample of 156 countries. Through pooled cross-sectional time series with fixed effects, the results demonstrate that human rights INGOs are not adequate vehicles for pressuring national adoption of LGBT policies. Instead, targeted advocacy efforts, embodied through LGBT INGOs, are required in order for policy adoption to transpire.

Play Unpacks the Man Behind Mask of Dr. Anonymous

“The 217 Boxes of Dr. Henry Anonymous” will have nine showings between May 3 and May 11, with a discussion session following each performance.

The politics of age and generation at the GAZE International LGBT Film Festival in Dublin

Despite their global proliferation, queer film festivals, like film festivals more broadly, are somewhat understudied within the social sciences. This is despite scholarship within film studies that argues that they are significant sites of queer collectivity and sociality. This article examines queer film festivals as sites for the production of community and queer bonds. The authors argue that questions of age, temporality and intergenerationality are central to discourses of community mobilized by festival organizers. The article draws on empirical material from a qualitative study of the GAZE International LGBT Festival in Dublin – which formed part of a larger comparative study of the cultural activist politics of queer film festivals in Europe. Ken Plummer has argued for a greater appreciation of the role of time and generation within sexuality studies. Age, temporality and intergenerationality emerged as important issues within interviews conducted with organizers and volunteers at the festival. The analysis of these issues focuses on three key themes: (1) GAZE as a site of intergenerational community; (2) GAZE as a site of remembrance; and (3) demography and the sustainability of the festival. The article argues that the festival provides a distinctive site of intergenerational queer bonds; and that despite the creation of transnational spaces and discourses, references to the nation and national identity remain central to bonding experiences at the festival.

The ironic gay spectator: The impacts of centring western subjects in international LGBT rights campaigns

With the theory of ‘ironic spectatorship’ (2013), Chouliaraki contends that the experience of the self, rather than the suffering of the other, is at the heart of solidarity campaigns today. Through that lens, this article critiques the centring of the western gay subject in international queer advocacy, using the vilification of Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law as a case study. Through analysis of Stephen Fry’s documentary Out There, and a variety of human rights literature, I conclude that this tendency, as well as being ethically violent, tangibly undermines efforts to achieve queer empowerment.

Physical, psychosocial, and social health of men who identify as bears: a systematic review.

This article examines the existing qualitative and quantitative research on physical, psychosocial and social health of men who identify as Bears, a subcultural group in the gay community. During the 1980s, one of the first Bear communities emerged in San Francisco. Using the United States as an example, other Bear communities were created throughout the world. Today, Bear-related organizations and events are found globally. A systematic review was conducted exploring the health of men who identify as Bears. To identify articles addressing the health outcomes of men who identify as Bears, the researcher systematically reviewed articles indexed through CINAHL, PsycINFO, Humanities International Index, Cochrane Library, Medline, and LGBT Life. The major findings across the 11 articles were systematically grouped into physical, psychosocial, and social health categories. Men identifying as Bears were more likely to have a higher body mass index, engage in risky sexual behaviours and have a lower self-esteem. Future implications for research and practice regarding the health of men who identify as Bears are addressed. Men who identify as Bears have unique health care needs and respond to health care providers who are sensitive towards their needs. Health care providers should understand and acknowledge the unique health needs of men who identify as Bears to better care for these men.

Framing the Ghanaian LGBT rights debate: competing decolonisation and human rights frames

This paper investigates how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movements in Ghana, both anti and pro, framed the debate that captured media attention in 2006 and 2011. Decolonisation and human rights frames were appropriated, challenged, and dominated by opponents of LGBT rights, making it difficult for LGBT activists to use them. The opponents' corruption frame overpowered the LGBT activists' preservation frame. When LGBT activists used a human rights frame (comparing sexual minorities to racial minorities and to persons with disabilities), the countermovement appropriated it in a way that excluded same-sex relations by comparing sexual minorities to “deviants”, persons with mental illnesses, and animals. The interaction between the decolonisation and human rights frames was also problematic: the corruption frame not only rendered the LGBT activists' preservation frame nearly useless, but it also made their use of the human rights frame appear to be cultural imperialism and problematised the help they received from international LGBT organisations.

Disciplining the Unruly (National) Body in Staceyann Chin's The Other Side of Paradise

In 2009, during a period of intense debate surrounding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Jamaica, Staceyann Chin published the first memoir of growing up lesbian in Jamaica. While Chin's lesbian identity is a major theme of the text, also important is documenting the child abuse and homophobic violence she suffered. This essay makes visible the connections between physical punishments during slavery (with particular reference to “The History of Mary Prince”), practices of child abuse and homophobic violence in Jamaica, and contemporary modes of recognizing legitimate subjects by the state. In contrast to research focused on homophobia in the Caribbean as largely a product of religious teachings or a relic of the Victorian era, this essay instead suggests that powerful histories of physical control and discipline influence contemporary beliefs about the “threat” LGBT individuals present to the nation. Chin's identity as a woman of Chinese and African descent calls into question a unitary identity or origin story for Caribbean subjects and asks which bodies are allowed to be legitimate citizens of the postindependence Caribbean. Chin's personal experiences are put into the context of larger debates within Jamaica about sovereignty in the wake of US and UK announcements linking budgetary aid to compliance with international LGBT rights norms.

The Distance between Death and Marriage

This article utilizes qualitative research from South Africa to problematize the global movement for the legalization of same-sex marriage. Taking seriously the centrality of sexuality to the establishment of empire, the article locates marriage as a mechanism not only of heteronormativity, but also of racialization. While marriage is heralded by international and national LGBT organizations as the greatest measure of societal inclusion within a liberal democracy, the article argues that heteronormativity, through the institution of marriage, is reinforced rather than challenged or shifted with the inclusion of same-sex couples. For black lesbian women in South Africa, the reinforcement of heteronorms has very real consequences, not least of which is the further entrenchment of a discourse that characterizes same-sex sexuality as ‘un-African’. The article suggests that the ‘inclusion’ in citizenship extended by marriage legislation comes at great cost and concludes by suggesting a reprioritization of goals for global LGBTIQ movements.

Three Ways Forward: The Present and Future State of Homosexuality Legislation in Africa

This Article examines the three diverse ways nations in Africa are engaged in legislating homosexuality and same-sex relations. Much of the international community has focused on Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill, commonly described as the 'Kill the Gays' bill, which for a time included a provision permitting the death penalty for certain forms of 'aggravated homosexuality.' This focus on the death penalty aspect of the legislation has obscured a discussion of a similarly insidious aspect of the legislation - the criminalization of pro-gay activism and the providing of 'aid or assistance' to LGBT persons. This criminal penalty, the first of its kind in the world, serves as a dangerous model for other countries attempting to legislate against homosexuality. This paper serves to contextualize the Uganda statute, and compare it with 2012 legislation in Malawi, which would decriminalize same-sex activity, and Zimbabwe, where an attempt to enshrine gay rights in the constitution led instead to blowback from antigay activists and resulted in the inclusion of an antigay amendment in the country's new draft constitution. Each of these laws serves as a model for pro-LGBT and antigay activists attempting to legislate sexual orientation and activity in Africa. Ultimately, this Article concludes that each measure will serve as a model for different constituencies: Uganda's for antigay legislators attempting to corral public sentiment against homosexuality into legislative power; Malawi's for pro-LGBT grassroots organizations and sympathetic political leaders; and Zimbabwe's for international LGBT organizations providing strategic advice for ways to move legislation forward on the continent.

Thiefing sugar: eroticism between women in Caribbean literature

In Thiefing Sugar , Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley explores the poetry and prose of Caribbean women writers, revealing in their imagery a rich tradition of erotic relations between women. She takes the book’s title from Dionne Brand’s novel In Another Place, Not Here , where eroticism between women is likened to the sweet and subversive act of cane cutters stealing sugar. The natural world is repeatedly reclaimed and reinterpreted to express love between women in the poetry and prose that Tinsley analyzes. She not only recuperates stories of Caribbean women loving women, stories that have been ignored or passed over by postcolonial and queer scholarship until now, she also shows how those erotic relations and their literary evocations form a poetics and politics of decolonization. Tinsley’s interpretations of twentieth-century literature by Dutch-, English-, and French-speaking women from the Caribbean take into account colonialism, migration, labor history, violence, and revolutionary politics. Throughout Thiefing Sugar , Tinsley connects her readings to contemporary matters such as neoimperialism and international LGBT and human-rights discourses. She explains too how the texts that she examines intervene in black feminist, queer, and postcolonial studies, particularly when she highlights the cultural limitations of the metaphors that dominate queer theory in North America and Europe, including those of the closet and “coming out.”

Transnational Discourses and Circuits of Queer Knowledge in Indonesia

This article examines the circulation of “global queer discourse” in Indonesia to interrogate the processes by which queer knowledge is received and appropriated. While Western-oriented queer discourse articulated by international LGBT organizations promote a “modern ideal” of lesbian and gay identities, individual female subjectivities are much more complex and layered. In Padang, West Sumatra tombois and their girlfriends, who identify themselves as masculine and feminine, access global circuits of queer knowledge and see themselves as part of a global community, but maintain subject positions that are distinct from the identities promoted and encouraged by activist lesbian organizations in Indonesia. In this article I examine the ways both lesbian activists in Jakarta and individuals in Padang selectively appropriate circuits of queer knowledge to make sense of their own subjectivities and negotiate their places in the “lesbian” world. I offer insights into the asymmetries of reception and the consequent multiplicity of desires and subjectivities as a way to incorporate the diversity of queer subjectivities within a “global gay” ecumene.