Abstract:

Based on my master’s thesis, I propose to present a study of queer subculture in Belarus analyzing underrepresented sexual minorities in the final decade of Soviet rule and in the 1990s. The broader aim of this research is to question the hegemony of Western conceptions of queer liberation, which primes visibility in identity politics.

Investigating Belarusian queer magazines published in the 1990s and early 2000s, complemented by interviews with queer Belarusians, I examine the space queer individuals carved for themselves and the discourses they employed. The persistence of the Soviet narrative is considered whilst also exploring how queer subjectivities reflected on their nonconforming identity through publications and other “underground” practices. Their history is crucial to understand the persistence of the culture of silence (Topouzova, 2021) or ‘Soviet ethos of secrecy’ (Clech, 2019) to this day.

Critically, my research dehomogenizes the region by considering the specificities of Belarusian, Soviet culture and history and their impact on the present distortion of sexual discourse. My work

inspired by scholarship that critically reassesses how to study LGBTQ+ issues and history in post-socialist countries (Channell-Justice, 2020; Buyantueva and Shevtsova, 2020) forefronts local queer voices and moves beyond approaches limited to the repression of LGBTQ+ communities. My proposed scholarly project challenges the conventional chronological scope in Soviet and post-Soviet studies and questions the significance of the 1990s as a period of transition across all strata of society.

In this paper, non-visibility is treated as a political concept that denotes a possibility for protection and alternative forms of resistance. The social and legal context of heightened LGBTQ+ discrimination demonstrates the inefficacy of visibility in the public space. By addressing dominant national and state narratives that support conservative heteronormative patriarchy, the findings based on local queer experiences and history offer alternative conceptions of queer existence, resilience, and expression.