Europe has long been regarded as a unique place for the promotion and furthering of LGBT rights. This important and compelling study investigates the alleged uniqueness and its ties to a relatively long history of LGBT and queer movements in the region. Contributors argue that LGBT movements were inspired by specific ideas about European democratic values and a responsibility towards human rights, and that they sought to realize these on the ground through activism, often crossing borders to foster a wider movement. In making this argument, they discuss the ‘idea of Europe’ as it relates to LGBT rights, the history of European LGBT movements, the role of European institutions in adopting LGBT policies, and the construction of European ‘others’ in this process.
Table of Contents:
— 1. Introduction ; Phillip M. Ayoub and David Paternotte — PART I: Meanings of EUROPE — 2. The European Origins of Transnational Organizing: The International Committee for Sexual Equality; Leila J. Rupp — 3. LGBT activism in Kyrgyzstan: What Role for Europe?; Cai Wilkinson — 4. ‘In Europe it’s Different’: Homonationalism and Peripheral Desires for Europe; Gianmaria Colpani and Adriano José Habed — PART II: Practicing europe in lgbtq activism — 5. Deploying Europe: The Creation of Discursive Imperatives for Same-sex Unions; Kelly Kollman — 6. Transnational LGBTI Activism and the European Courts: Constructing the Idea of Europe; Anna van der Vleuten — 7. Queer Activism and the Idea of ‘Practicing Europe’; Konstantinos Eleftheriadis — PART III: Becoming EUROPEAN — 8. Trans Networking in the European Vortex: Between Advocacy and Grassroots Politics; Carsten Balzer and Jan Simon Hutta — 9. Transnational Solidarities and LGBTQ Politics in Poland; Jon Binnie and Christian Klesse — 10. Split Europe: Homonationalism and Homophobia in Croatia; Kevin Moss — 11. Conclusion
