Cosmopolanism, Natnalism, and Sexual Polics the European Periphery: a Multislar Analysis of Gay Pris Thsaloniki, Greece | SprgerLk

Contents:

• INTERVIEW-GREECE'S FIRST GAY MISTER HOP APPOTMENT HELPS ERO HOMOPHOBIA
• THE MYTH OF THE ANCIENT GREEK ‘GAY UTOPIA’
• GREEK CONSERVATIVE MP LATOPOULOU: “GAY MARRIAGE IS UNNATURRAL AND AGAST OUR RELIGN!”BY HELLENISPE - JULY 30, 20222813FACEBOOK TWTER PTERT EMAIL PRT SOURCE – LATOPOULOU ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: “IT’S UNNATURAL AND AGAST OUR RELIGN”
• COSMOPOLANISM, NATNALISM, AND SEXUAL POLICS THE EUROPEAN PERIPHERY: A MULTISLAR ANALYSIS OF GAY PRIS THSALONIKI, GREECE
• GREECE'S 1ST OPENLY GAY MISTER URG LGBTQ YOUTHS NOT TO PUT THEIR DREAMS ON HOLD
• THE ANTI-INTY POLICS OF GAY NSERVATIV
• SEND HUNTER BIN IRS WHISTLEBLOWER INTIFIED AS GAY DEMOCRAT
• TURKEY: PORTUGUE TOURIST SAYS HE WAS JAILED FOR LOOKG GAY
• GENEVA COLLEGE ALLEGEDLY FIR GAY SOCCER ACH AFTER INSTAGRAM POSTS ABOUT CLIVENS
• CONSERVATIVE NEIGHBOR TOSS AD RAT ON PROPERTY OF GAY UPLE’S RTRANT AMID FD

INTERVIEW-GREECE'S FIRST GAY MISTER HOP APPOTMENT HELPS ERO HOMOPHOBIA

LONDON, Jan 11 (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Greece’s first openly gay mister said enunterg homophobia public life was “a given”, but hoped his appotment to the nservative ernment would make easier for LGBT+ people to tackle discrimatn. And you have to do what you believe is the right thg, ” he said, addg that he had sometim been mistaken for a LGBT+ activist if he spoke about gay, Yatromanolakis said he would discs LGBT+ issu wh lleagu the bet - at least one of whom voted agast a law allowg same-sex civil partnerships five years ago, sayg he would “not shy away om if up”.

Yatromanolakis said he was fortable beg ernment wh Interr Mister Makis Voridis - who opposed gay civil unns - and was nfint of Msotakis’s support for LGBT+ rights. Voridis has been quoted as sayg he supports gay people spe votg agast the 2015 an opposn lawmaker, Msotakis - whose chief enomic advisor is also gay - backed the civil partnerships law spe opposn om some members of his New Democracy party and the powerful Greek Orthodox the legislatn was hailed as a landmark for LGBT+ rights Greece, gay and lbian upl are still not allowed to marry, adopt children together or adopt the blogil children of their partners. (RNS) — A uple of weeks ago, Elpidophoros, the Greek Orthodox archbishop of Ameri, showed up a seasi rort near Athens and baptized the son and dghter of a proment gay uple, actor Evangelo Bois and fashn signer Peter Dundas.

THE MYTH OF THE ANCIENT GREEK ‘GAY UTOPIA’

As Orthodox protol requir, Elpidophoros had rmed the lol metropolan bishop that he would be performg a baptism his dce — but not that would be on behalf of a gay uple.

At least that’s what the metropolan, Antons of Glyfada, claimed after news of the event ocsned an “uproar” over what was thought to be “the first openly gay baptism” Greece.

GREEK CONSERVATIVE MP LATOPOULOU: “GAY MARRIAGE IS UNNATURRAL AND AGAST OUR RELIGN!”BY HELLENISPE - JULY 30, 20222813FACEBOOK TWTER PTERT EMAIL PRT SOURCE – LATOPOULOU ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: “IT’S UNNATURAL AND AGAST OUR RELIGN”

In the nearly six years that had elapsed sce ECRI’s last asssment, was noted that good practic had been ma a number of centre-right Greek ernment, followg groundbreakg legislatn implemented by s leftwg precsor – cludg civil unns for same-sex upl – had announced a 2021-25 natnal strategy for LGBTQI+ equaly and, for the first time, placed openly gay dividuals official posts.

Siarly, a natnal actn plan agast racism and tolerance was adopted as one of Europe’s most socially nservative societi, the Mederranean untry has faced cricism for s failure to properly implement polici and root out ep-seated homophobia poed by leadg members of the Greek Orthodox church. Bishops have publicly nounced homosexualy as a killg of Zak Kostopoulos, a gay activist and drag performer, broad daylight Athens four years ago, did much to highlight a culture of abe and impuny the untry’s police force. The worst thg is that she said this to actually fort me, " Albatros year, Albatros (their artistic name) published 'Flty Boy', a book scribg the challeng that genr queer children face Greece, a largely nservative untry where the fluential Orthodox Church teach that beg gay is a s.

"Of urse I felt the prsure to change, " said Albatros, g an artistic name and wearg a sparkly black face mask to ensure the book is not lked to a certa this month banned so-lled nversn therapy for mors, practic aimed at supprsg a person’s sexual orientatn or genr inty and which health experts and the lbian, gay, bisexual and trans muny worldwi have nmned as psychologilly harmful and, New Zealand and France crimalised nversn therapy earlier this year, jog a growg number of untri to outlaw the Mister Msokakis, who is tryg to break away om the tradnal image of a nservative lear and fac electns 2023, last year appoted a mtee to draft a natnal strategy for improvg LGBTQI+ rights. "The ernment has also repelled a ban on blood donatns by gay men and has been trag civil servants on LGBTQI issu, said Msotakis's chief enomic adviser Alexis Greek LGBTQI+ muny has weled the reforms over the past , cludg allowg civil partnership among same-sex upl 2015 and the legal regnn of genr inty 2017. It was a powerful, ptivatg dream, one which scholars of ancient Greece have started to pull apart, revealg a culture which homosexualy was much more regulated and ntrolled than prevly thought.

COSMOPOLANISM, NATNALISM, AND SEXUAL POLICS THE EUROPEAN PERIPHERY: A MULTISLAR ANALYSIS OF GAY PRIS THSALONIKI, GREECE

From the days of the Old Ttament through to the flourishg of culture Greece and the Renaissance, Wil sought to bear wns to a gay past of ee romantic exprsn. Any ted homosexual the 19th century uld have given you a speech along much the same l, cg the same nonil figur and possibly a few more. Wil was tappg to a shared gay fantasy about the past, a fantasy which one culture stood out above all others, the world of Classil Greece.

In the warmth and light of the Mederranean, numero 19th- and early 20th-century gays and lbians sought to fleetgly repture visns of this lost paradise and recreate amongst s s.

This legacy ntued well to the 20th century, so much so that the homosexualy of the Greeks probably unts as one of Wtern culture’s worst kept secrets. Ined, the associatn between Greece and homosexualy is so strong that even anti-same-sex marriage advot are not above g to support their arguments. In the US Supreme Court se that legalised same-sex marriage, one of the dissentg judg, Jtice Samuel Alo noted that while the Greeks and Romans approved of homosexual relatns, they never created an stutn of same-sex marriage.

GREECE'S 1ST OPENLY GAY MISTER URG LGBTQ YOUTHS NOT TO PUT THEIR DREAMS ON HOLD

Ined, he was so succsful proselytisg for homosexualy that he upset the lol female followers of Dnys, the god of we and drama. Neverthels, all the efforts unrtaken by the Greeks to regulate the relatnships do challenge to nsir why societi are so ightened by love, not only gay, but straight sire also. LGBTQ+ travelers will also want to check out the XLSIOR gay ftival that tak plac Mykonos Town late Augt, sometim early September.

Athens has the largt LGBTQ+ muny Greece, particularly the Gazi neighborhood, which has an array of gay bar and clubs like Soda2. Mykonos island has one of the most famo LGBTQ+ scen the world and be a gay mec durg the summer months, which culmat wh the XLSIOR Ftival. Moreover, one of the most important criqu g om the above-mentned scholars foc on the way they addrs ‘homonatnalism’, be the ia that Wtern ernments turn LGBT rights to a ernmental tool orr to impose their polil and enomic agendas over velopg untri, or worse, to jtify imperialist wars the Middle East (Puar 2013).

The untri, often wh unrveloped legislatns on LGBT rights and s of stutnal homophobia, are loted the European periphery, be Southern (Greece, Italy), Central (post-munist untri, such as Poland), or the post-Yugoslavian space (Kulpa and Mizielska 2011; Bilić and Stubbs 2016) orr to pe the bary nfiguratn ‘Wt vers the other’ (the latter beg a synonym for Middle Eastern untri), is therefore important to shift our attentn to Wtern peripheral ntexts, which do not nform pletely eher to LGBT rights stmentalizatn or the ‘Oriental’, homophobic Other. A major polil event, such as the Gay Pri, n be of cisive signifince when to such a ntextual analysis (Browne 2007) orr to achieve this goal, I opt for an analysis, which reveals the nflictg visns on sexualy at the followg sl: (1) lol: urban polil and relig stutns’ support and opposn to Pris and their agenda; (2) natnal: the relatnship between lack of LGBT rights at the natnal sle and LGBT movement’s claims the cy; and (3) European and global: how imag of creative and smopolan cy terplay wh LGBT visibily and polics.

THE ANTI-INTY POLICS OF GAY NSERVATIV

This perd cis wh the Gay Pris that have been selected for the analysis and wh the enomic crisis at s midway and the var disurs about ‘Grex’ (the expulsn of Greece om the mon moary unn) spreadg across Europe. Ma source is the untry’s largt gay magaze ANTIVIRUS, sce provis sights of how the LGBT muny perceived Thsaloniki’s mayor’s gay-iendly polici. Huffgton Post is selected bee reflects the globalized gay-iendly media dynamics; th, aligns wh Boutaris’ smopolan treatment of LGBT polics.

SEND HUNTER BIN IRS WHISTLEBLOWER INTIFIED AS GAY DEMOCRAT

It is difficult to trace the history and the weight of importance of this short-life group for the emergence of a policized gay inty the cy.

Moreover, the edors did not hate to translate an article om the French FHAR (Homosexual Front of Revolutnary Actn) Greek, showg some intifitn wh their French unterparts, as well as spiratn transmted by the events of gay liberatn that were occurrg simultaneoly Wtern Europe.

However, the Group explicly took a transphobic stance, by statg their ‘difference’ towards transgenr people, as well as their ‘disgt’ agast homosexuals who feel ‘strated’ (sic) (ced OPOTH (Iniative Group of Homosexuals of Thsaloniki) 1997). Followg an almost silent LGBT movement activy the 1990s and 2000s, wh the exceptn of the annual LGBT Film Ftival sce the late 1990s and the activi of small groups such as the Simbraxi kata tis omofovias (‘Cooperatn agast Homophobia’), and fanz such as O Póthos (‘The Dire’) (Kantsa 2014, p. A piece of the biggt Greek gay magaze ANTIVIRUS and articl dited to Boutaris May 2012 (time which the first cy’s Pri took place) clearly suggt a sense of gratu to his support.

TURKEY: PORTUGUE TOURIST SAYS HE WAS JAILED FOR LOOKG GAY

Articl such as ‘Bravo to you, Mr Boutaris’ and the edorial ‘The 4 bravos to Thsaloniki Pri’ are clear exampl of the attu of gay prs towards Boutaris:The first Pri of Thsaloniki is a fact. On the send ocsn, he participated the prs nference of the Pri, where he clared that:‘We do not celebrate nor do we make Carnival or tourism; the Gay Pri honors diversy; such a [tourist-/Carnival-based] readg is jt ridiculo’ (reported Thanopoulos 2013).

Although LGBT media tend to portray him as a new progrsive figure for the advancement of their agenda, Boutaris has been challenged on two ma onts relatn to his participatn to Pris: first, by right-wg policians and relig thori for his supposed transgrsive smopolanism; and send, ternally by members of the Pri anizatn, who saw his terventn the Pri as a way to promote his multicultural smopolan beg wh, upon the threaten of Boutaris not to be prent at the ary para, which took place on 26th October 2013, Footnote 8 Tzzikostas, the right-wg ernor of the admistrative regn of Central Macedonia (whose pal is Thsaloniki) suggted that ‘Boutaris was more terted supportg the Gay Pri para Thsaloniki than the ary para’ (Kathimeri 2013a). Other far-right figur of the opposn ed an overtly homophobic language to ask mayor Boutaris whether he would proceed to a marriage of a beast-lover wh his ‘beast’ (ANTIVIRUS 2013), mirrorg a prev terview which Boutaris had stated that he would happily marry a gay uple.

Footnote 11 Ined, the Gay Pri of Thsaloniki marched ont of s two most emblematic historil church, as well as a sendary school. Th, acrdg to the Bishop, a Gay Pri that virally vas the very emblems of a cy that is symbolilly nstcted as the historil heror of the Christian glory has to be severely now, seems that Pris bee a cleavage issue between the right and the left, remdg the tradnal divisns on the matter, as is the se most of European ntexts (Bnie 2014: p.

GENEVA COLLEGE ALLEGEDLY FIR GAY SOCCER ACH AFTER INSTAGRAM POSTS ABOUT CLIVENS

Acrdg to mory groups the Pri and queer criqu, Boutaris’ gay-iendly policy targets tourism and ntribut to the new visual remake of Thsaloniki. Followg this le, Homophonia addrs criqu agast mercializatn and strs the risks n by LGBT polics when supported (or opted) by rporatns or foreign untri.

When to the Thsaloniki one, Homophonia raised criqu agast s cisn to go unr the support of the Amerin nsulate (Homophonia 2015). Here, they nnect their ant strategi wh the particularly homophobic ntext of Thsaloniki, while they mentn the ongog police pogroms agast transgenr persons, and the nsequent crimalizatn of the latter, intifyg th wh polil stggl of other margalized groups, such as those of sex workers and people livg wh HIV-AIDS. Many other ci have the past attempted to promote an LGBT-iendly agenda, eher orr to attract a gay clientele (pk dollars), or as part of the creative cy visns.

CONSERVATIVE NEIGHBOR TOSS AD RAT ON PROPERTY OF GAY UPLE’S RTRANT AMID FD

In the latter se, gay visibily has been seen as a primordial feature of the ‘creative cy’, as theorized by Florida (2004) and later applied by urban planners and policy-makers. Homophonia, for stance, has attempted to be acuntable for several beyond LGBT visibily: support to polil refuge, fight for the rights of people livg wh HIV/AIDS, and claratn of solidary wh other Pris of the Balkan pensula such as Belgra’s. Therefore, the activists of Homophonia claim a nnectn wh the historil past of activism, not exclively lked to LGBT rights.

More specifilly, a text they published on their webse 2012, Homophonia activists nnect the current Pris to the emblematic uprisg of the Polytechnic School agast the 7-year dictatorship (17/11/1973), but also to the ‘pk triangl’ of Nazi ncentratn mps, the ma slogan of the vio beg ‘Never aga pk triangl’. Another slogan is more explic agast the mayor’s ia of the multicultural cy: ‘Boutaris, your gay [enomic] growth smells homophobia’. Wh this amework, aligned wh Florida’s ias on the creative cy, but also by pk enomi as ployed nowadays many urban centr of the world, Boutaris prented gay visibily as extribly lked to the tablishment of a creative ‘urban diplomacy’ (2014), which tak to ser acunt issu of relig, ethnic, and sexual diversy.

Moreover, helps unrstand the different logics, which get enacted the European periphery and place regns and ci a plex nex of sometim ntradictory disurs: creative cy smopolanism, relig natnalism, queer the natnal sle, we saw how gay people’s mands for rights have been met by natnal anizatns and polil parti.