(Un)critically queer organizing: Towards a more complex analysis of LGBTQ organizing in Lebanon

Abstract

In this article, I explore two contending claims in the literature on LGBTQ organizing in the Global South. Whereas some theorists argue that LGBTQ groups in the Global South uncritically apply ''Western'' understandings of sexuality in their LGBTQ organizing, others claim that a global LGBTQ identity and community truly exists, which despite taking on different forms, follows one similar ''developmental'' trajectory. Drawing on the cases of the two Lebanese LGBTQ social movement organizations (SMOs) Helem and Meem, I argue that the present literature homogenizes such organizations and does not account for the complexities, differences and diversities in their activism. By analyzing their respective websites, online publications and published online speeches from 2004 to 2011, I argue that Meem and Helem's different strategic choices and definitions of collective queer identities both simultaneously contest and engage with dominant models of Euro-American LGBTQ organizing. I illustrate that, despite their different organizing strategies, both Helem and Meem attempt to remain rooted in a local context by highlighting their multiple positions and intersectional struggles. In addition, I show that geopolitical context plays a central role in their collective identity deployment since the two groups highlight different aspects of themselves in relation to local and global audiences. Finally, I use this case to point out the limitations of the present literature and the need for research that operates with a more complex sense of LGBTQ groups in the Global South.

The EU and LGBTI activism in the MENA – The case of Lebanon

“…Some have studied the visibility of LGBTI groups and the tools they have utilized such as social media and the Internet (Kreps, 2012). Others have discussed the challenges LGBTI groups face in divided societies (such as Lebanon), what strategies they adopt for mobilization and support, and how they identify themselves (Moussawi, 2015;Nagle, 2018).…”

“You Cannot Oppress Those Who Do Not Exist”

“…As Cai Wilkinson (2017) argues, in many cases security depends on whether one passes as straight and gender conforming. Research on queer communities in the Global South have questioned the applicability and desirability of Western visibility politics (Ritchie 2010;Charania 2017), pointed at alternative forms of organizing and resistance (Moussawi 2015) and shown how queer people invent creative forms of being visible and invisible, for example by adopting "visibility schemas" (Cisneros and Bracho 2019) or "contingent invisibility" (Newton 2016). Moreover, mass outings of suspected homosexuals in Uganda (Gander 2014) and inflammatory trials in Egypt (Amar 2013) also highlight visibility as a "double-edged sword" (Oluoch and Tabengwa 2017).…”

“…The study makes a theoretical contribution to critical debates about visibility and its place in queer politics, especially beyond Western contexts (Ross 2005;Ritchie 2010;Moussawi 2015;Wilkinson 2017). We ask three questions.…”

The Many Scenes of Queer Damascus

“…In the Middle East, NGOs and transnational activism have lent queer sexuality a politics of visibility based on liberal discourses of identity, rights, and tolerance (Moussawi 2015), which has professionalized activism through strategy, reporting measurements, funding, and institutional hierarchy (Markowitz & Tice 2002;Wehbi & Lahib 2007;Butterfield 2016). Paul Amar (2013) contends that, in Cairo, discourse on queer sexualities results from anxieties of fast-paced globalization and the reconfiguration of security apparatuses, whereby NGOs are mobilized within "human-security governance" (7).…”