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Homophobia in the Global South - why? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 2 weeks ago by thefreepenguinalt@lemmygrad.ml to c/asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml

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Why do anti-imperialist movements in the Global South tend to see queer folk as enemies rather than fellow oppressed people? (Not saying all are like that, but why don't we see that many radically pro-queer movements in the Global South)

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[–] Tatar_Nobility@lemmy.ml 22 points 2 weeks ago

Historically, reaction to queerness in the Global South has been relative to the imperial core's stance on it.

Homophobia is largely (though not always) a colonial legacy. Many premodern nations, to different extents, were either accepting or tolerant of queer relationships. The colonial authorities criminalized same-sex relationships (e.g. British Raj, French African colonies, etc.). Some postcolonial nations after they achieved their independence, retracted these laws, but the majority didn't. So for a certain period in the 20th century, queerness was a symbol of anticolonial struggle, because it meant defying the West.

However, as the imperial core and its neoliberal institutions absorbed queer activism into their agenda of foreign affairs, queerness began to be depicted as the face of imperialism.