Gender and LGBTQI+ Politics in the 2020 Belarusian Movement

Abstract

Throughout the summer of 2020, Belarus received extensive international media coverage of its non-violent demonstrations arising in response to the disputed re-election of Alexander Lukashenka and the violent crackdown against protestors. This period of civil unrest was marked by demonstrations attended by a broad cross-section of citizens, many waving nationalist red and white flags. Rainbow flags, symbolic of the LGBTQI+ community, were also featured in the protests. This piece examines gender and LGBTQI+ politics in the context of the Belarusian 2020 non-violent movement. A feminist framework is applied to examine how essentialist gender binaries, hegemonic masculinity, and violence are propagated by the Lukashenka regime to negatively impact women's political participation and legitimize violence directed against LGBTQI+ people in Belarus to maintain control. In problematizing anti-LGBTQI+ rhetorics in Belarus it will be shown how political discourses are disseminated through hegemonic masculinity and have been employed to maintain a patriarchal and heteronormative status quo in Belarus. The research highlights the diverse ways that LGBTQI+ people have participated in the movement and addresses the violence that has been legitimized against LGBTQI+ at the protests and in detention.