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Sexuality and Law: Transnational LGBT+ Activism in Lebanon, Egypt and Iran
Abstract
This research project looks at how does transnational LGBT+ advocacy from local NGOs in Lebanon, Egypt and Iran translate the global governance mechanisms into their corresponding national legislations. I argue that the pressure from these mechanisms is reflected in coercitive laws of a securitized state that lead LGBT+ activists towards a locally designed advocacy that intersect wider struggles of these queered subjects. The boomerang effect, as understood in transnational advocacy networks theory, has a negative impact on the recognition of LGBT+ rights, but it varies according to each government’s politics on sex and gender nonconformism: total backlash in Iran, a visible coercion in Egypt, and a moderate one in Lebanon. I bring into conversation Transnational, Global and Gender studies with International Relations and Anthropology to produce a thesis on transnational LGBT+ activism in MENA. Notions of transnational advocacy networks that structure my analysis are indebted to Margaret E. Keck y Kathryn Sikkink’s theory of the boomerang effect. They interact with the notion of “activism from the closet”, named by Hassan elMenyawi, as well as Paul Amar’s “humansecurity state”,when referring to governance mechanisms. I extend my study from the Queen Boat incident (2001) until 2015, a year after the Beyond 2014 Plan of Action from the Cairo Conference. In this three levelled analysis I compare 3 countries’ legislations, 3 NGOs and 2 global governance mechanisms, to exemplify my argument, without excluding significant cases from the local, national and international scenarios. I have special interest on Helem, the Egyptian Initiative of Personal Rights and the Iranian Queer Organization. From the global governance system, I refer to the Action Plan from the Cairo Conference and the Universal Periodic Review from the UNHRC. The national legislations I focus on target sexual and gender nonconformism, specially found in the penal codes.
Discipline
International Relations/Affairs
Geographic Area
All Middle East
Sub Area
Queer/LGBT Studies