HOMOPHOBIA

Homophobia refers to prejudice, fear or discrimination against people who are gay. As in many other areas, it has consistently manifested as a prevalent theme in global politics. In 69 countries, engaging in gay sexual activities and forming same-sex relationships remains unlawful, subjecting individuals to severe penalties such as life imprisonment or even death sentences. Even in Europe, despite being perceived as a secure haven for the LGBTQ+ community after Ireland’s popular vote to legislate same-sex marriage in 2015 and Serbia’s Ana Brnabic becoming the first openly gay Prime Minister in 2017, there is still a troubling surge in discriminatory attitude. A report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA) found that countries repealing existing laws and policies are experiencing regression. Bulgaria serves an example, where the removal of mechanisms allowing trans individuals to change their names or gender markers on official documents has occurred.  

The rapid spread of right-wing populism and its anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric predictably contributes to these developments. Populism often aligns with conservative religion, leading to its use in promoting homophobia by national-conservative, Christian democratic, and right-wing parties. Serbia, Hungary, and Poland stand out as countries that have experienced significant setbacks due to their governments’ failure to uphold fundamental civil rights. Noteworthy setbacks are observed not only in Eastern Europe but worldwide. In March 2019, then-deputy prime minister of Italy, Matteo Salvini, who leads the far-right League party, spoke at the World Congress of Families, a conference that promotes the “natural family” against LGBT+ and abortion rights. Recently, Russia’s Supreme Court designated LGBT activists as “extremists,” raising fears of arrests and prosecutions. This move is part of increasing restrictions in Russia on expressions of sexual orientation and gender identity, including laws outlawing the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relations and banning legal or medical changes of gender. During the past decade, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party used homophobia as a primary tool to appeal to traditionalist values and emphasize family values. 

International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA). State-Sponsored Homophobia Report 2023: Global Legislation Overview. Geneva: ILGA, 2023. 

Encarnación, Omar G. Out in the Periphery: Latin America’s Gay Rights Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. 

Ayoub, Phillip M. When States Come Out: Europe’s Sexual Minorities and the Politics of Visibility. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. 

Paternotte, David, and Manon Tremblay, eds. The Ashgate Research Companion to Lesbian and Gay Activism. London: Routledge, 2015. 

Bob, Clifford. The Global Right Wing and the Clash of World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. 

Bosia, Michael J., and Meredith L. Weiss. Global Homophobia: States, Movements, and the Politics of Oppression. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013. 

Kulick, Don. Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture Among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. 

John D’Emilio. Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940–1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. 

Meyer, Doug. Violence against Queer People: Race, Class, Gender, and the Persistence of Anti-LGBT Discrimination. Piscataway: Rutgers University Press, 2015. 

Mogul, Joey L., Andrea J. Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock. Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. Boston: Beacon Press, 2011. 

Puar, Jasbir K. Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. 

Rahman, Momin. Homosexualities, Muslim Cultures, and Modernity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. 

Weiss, Meredith L. The Politics of Rights: Sex, Gender, and LGBT Activism in Southeast Asia. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2020. 

Wintemute, Robert, and Mads Andenæs, eds. The Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships: A Study of National, European, and International Law. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2001. 

Zia, Asifa. Faith and Feminism in Pakistan: Religious Agency or Secular Autonomy? Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2018.