Queering Political Representation in the Global South: Some Reflections from Latin America and Africa

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI+) rights in the Global South have been currently in the spotlight for paradoxical reasons. On the one hand, several countries (such as Argentina, Uruguay and South Africa) have gained prominence on the international scene thanks to laws that have extended various rights to people who dissent from cis-heteronormative standards. On the other hand, high rates of LGBTI+-phobic violence persist in many countries. Political leaders with explicitly sexist, homophobic and transphobic discourses have risen to power, and in many countries (such as in Sub-Saharan Africa), they use anti-sodomy laws inherited from European Colonial Power to prosecute LGBTI+ people. In this context, we also observe the growing participation of openly LGBTI+ people in political parties and elections, achieving positions in the executive and legislative branches at various levels of government. Their presence in the legislature (especially that of trans women parliamentarians) has challenged sexism that prevails in spaces of political representation, leading to several cases of gender-based political violence. This proposal seeks to discuss the limits and possibilities of action of LGBTI+ parliamentarians in constructing sexual citizenship in the Global South. Drawing on the academic literature on gender and politics, with particular emphasis on the discussions on gender quotas, descriptive representation and political violence, the proposal aims to discuss the obstacles experienced by these parliamentarians, from the construction of their candidacy to their performance in parliamentary bodies. Reflections will be based on semi-structured interviews conducted with LGBTI+ parliamentarians currently in elected office in Brazil, Peru and South Africa. The analyses aim to understand how political gender-based violence affects the actions of these parliamentarians and its possible impacts on the participation of LGBTI+ people in institutional politics and LGBTI+ politics in general in Latin America and Africa.