The past five years have wnsed an explosn of tert the histori of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer people the Soviet Unn and s succsor stat. This special issue extends our unrstandg of the history of queer experience the late Soviet Unn and s succsor stat. Its eight articl balance attentn between the Rsian “re” and republics on the “periphery” of the USSR: Geia, Kyrgyzstan, and Latvia. One article draws attentn to Italy, and t...
Contents:
GAY THE USSR
It is the latt attack on LGBT rights the untry, after another anti-gay law was extend last year. * lgbt in ussr *
Signifint progrs has been difficult, sce Poland has been facg a le-of-law crisis gog back to at least 2017, when the right-wg Law and Jtice, or PiS party began spreadg s fluence on key bodi such as the Constutnal crisis the judiciary ns so ep that the EU iated Article 7 proceedgs agast Poland, which spend certa rights for member stat if they are emed to persistently be breach of the EU’s fundamental European Commissn lnched legal proceedgs agast Poland at the European Court of Jtice (ECJ), a se known as Commissn v Poland, and the ECJ orred Poland to spend the laws that terfere wh the pennce of the ignored the the untry’s Human Rights Ombudsman, Marc Wiącek, has cid to tackle both the homophobic rolutns and the falterg legal system at the same Office of the Ombudsman, while formally an stutn fanced by the ernment, exists many untri as an pennt one-man state body wh the mandate to lnch quiri to vlatns of human rights perpetrated by any stutn or body the his electn was marred by difficulty, wh PiS blockg the opposn-backed ndidate for 10 months. Speakg before Put signed the bill to the law on Monday, Tanya Loksha, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch said: “The 2013 ‘gay propaganda’ law was an unabashed example of polil homophobia, and the new draft legislatn amplifi that broar and harsher ways. "Advot say the ban has been over a the December, Put signed a law expandg rtrictns on the promotn of "LGBT propaganda, " effectively banng any public exprsn of their liftyle by lbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenr people Rsia.
Usg the ncept of visibily as an analytil lens, charts the changg experienc of LGBT people and public attus toward homosexualy and genr inty through three distct phas: first om erasure to visibily the 1990s and early 2000s, then creasg visibily the 2000s wh the emergence of the regn’s send wave of LGBT activism, and fally the current state of hypervisibily as state-sponsored polil homophobia has tensified. Even though homosexualy has been crimalized all post-Soviet untri except for Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (Carroll and Mendos, 2017, 39), the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn-Europe’s (ILGA-Europe) Rabow Europe project has repeatedly seen Rsia, Azerbaijan, and other Soviet succsor stat occupyg low posns s rankgs due to discrimatn and gross vlatns of LGBT people’s human rights.
For LGBT people livg former Soviet republics, wispread homophobia has created an creasgly hostile environment as policians, relig lears, and natnalists seek to banish any maniftatn or reference to homosexualy or genr variance society. While much of the talk has foced on jtifyg rtrictns and matag the stigmatizatn of same-sex attractn and genr nonnformy, heightened public tert and awarens have also provid hherto unavailable opportuni to speak publicly about the reali of LGBT people’s liv and challenge the popular and polil homophobia that they face.