'Traditional values' and the narrative of gay rights as modernity: Sexual politics beyond polarization. (January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Edenborg, Emil
• Other Names: Lalor Kay guest-editor.; Browne Kath guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Sexualities. Volume 26:Number 1/2(2023)
• Page Start: 37
• Page End: 53
• Publication Date: 2023-01
• Subjects: Traditional values -- LGBT -- Russia -- homonationalism -- polarization; Sex -- Periodicals; Sex customs -- Periodicals; Sex (Psychology) -- Periodicals; 306.705
• DOI: 10.1177/13634607211008067
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1363-4607

Abstract

Examining the Russian state's turn to 'traditional values' in the 2010s, this article aims to understand traditionalist state discourses in a global context where LGBT inclusion has been incorporated into notions of national exceptionalism. It argues that the Putin regime has articulated, provided ideological coherence to, and made visible a narrative according to which resistance to LGBT rights appears as a logical choice for states seeking to position themselves in opposition to the 'liberal West.' That narrative both counters the homonationalist idea of 'gay-friendliness' as a signifier of modernity and good statehood and incorporates some of its elements, notably externalization of homophobia onto racialized, Muslim Others.