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A lot of people have been RTing this map of state-sponsored homophobia (from here: https://ilga.org/ilga-world-releases-state-sponsored-homophobia-December-2020-update)
Let me explain why I dislike this map--and maps like it--SO much.
Let me explain why I dislike this map--and maps like it--SO much.
Basically, racism. This map contributes to a narrative of progress (from red to blue) based on western markers of "progress" in sexual rights. It colors in that map based on whether the official laws in these countries protect white Western identity categories (gay, etc).
Then people look at this map and tsk-tsk, because "some places" are just so obviously "backward." They murmur about how they "see a pattern" but how they know they will be called racist if they point out the "obvious pattern."
But most of the red and orange parts of the nap have laws on their books against *sodomy* or against *unnatural acts*, not "same-sex acts."
They have these laws BECAUSE OF EUROPEAN COLONIALISM, BC THE EUROPEANS PUT THOSE LAWS ON THE BOOKS WHEN THEY COLONIZED.
They have these laws BECAUSE OF EUROPEAN COLONIALISM, BC THE EUROPEANS PUT THOSE LAWS ON THE BOOKS WHEN THEY COLONIZED.
There is also a large gap between laws on the books and who they are actually enforced against. Statistically, anti-sodomy laws are often used to target racial minorities & immigrants.
Nayan Shah has shown, for instance, how the anti-sodomy and anti-deviance laws in the early 20th-century US were primarily used to target men of color, while white men (even ones caught together with those men of color) were often not charged.
Jyoti Puri has shown that the same applied with India's colonial-era anti-sodomy law (recently struck down). Ghassan Moussawi has shown that to be largely the case in Lebanon. Other scholars have shown similar patterns in other countries.
Also, as some people have pointed out, Russia, for instance, seems relatively neutral on this map, bc their *official* policies aren't anti-queer, despite the semi-official massive criminalization and persecution of queers.
The US just went "light blue" *THIS YEAR* bc of a SCOTUS ruling, and that ruling does not, I believe, cover *every* kind of employment.
There are also MANY ANTI-SODOMY LAWS STILL ON THE BOOKS. Some of them have still been applied, even post-SCOTUS.
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/24/sodomy-laws-us-states-perverted-sexual-practice-lawrence-texas-louisiana-maryland-bestiality/
There are also MANY ANTI-SODOMY LAWS STILL ON THE BOOKS. Some of them have still been applied, even post-SCOTUS.
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/24/sodomy-laws-us-states-perverted-sexual-practice-lawrence-texas-louisiana-maryland-bestiality/
See, for example: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/02/15/he-was-convicted-of-a-sex-act-thats-no-longer-a-crime-years-later-hes-deemed-a-sex-offender/
This has also been the most deadly year on record for trans people in the United States, particularly against trans women of color.
Maps like that do not capture the actual "safety" of a country. https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/marking-the-deadliest-year-on-record-hrc-releases-report-on-violence-against-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-people
Maps like that do not capture the actual "safety" of a country. https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/marking-the-deadliest-year-on-record-hrc-releases-report-on-violence-against-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-people
Maps like this create false narratives of progress & Western superiority.
This is not to say that many of these countries are not unsafe for queer people. But there's a big gap between the laws & safety or protection. The US/Europe ARE ALSO UNSAFE.
This is not to say that many of these countries are not unsafe for queer people. But there's a big gap between the laws & safety or protection. The US/Europe ARE ALSO UNSAFE.
One can argue for the usefulness of maps like this, but I think that--if we use them & talk about them--we also need to name the racial narratives of progress that they feed, as well as the violence & danger that they cover up.
