Where the Personal is (Geo)Political: Performing Queer Visibility in Georgia in the Context of EU Association. Issue 2 (4th March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Luciani, Laura
• Is Part Of: Problems of post-communism. Volume 70:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: 197
• Page End: 208
• Publication Date: 2023-03-04
• Subjects: Post-communism -- Periodicals; Post-communism; Periodicals; 330.91717
• DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2021.1937228
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1075-8216

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article examines the interplay between the European Union's (EU) interventions fostering LGBT+ rights in Georgia, and the visibility-raising strategies of local queer activists. The growing antagonism between the EU and Russia over their "shared neighborhood" crystallizes the idea of a value-based divide between the West/EUrope and the East/Russia on LGBT+ issues—with Georgia occupying a liminal position therein. The paper puts forward the concept of geopoliticization to unpack how the discursive construction of LGBT+ equality as a geopolitical issue shapes Georgian queer activists' visibility strategies, and to interrogate the outcomes these processes produce.