Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the diverging interpretations diaspora and local Lebanese LGBT activists have of 'intersectional organizing'. It analyzes how these different understandings function on the ground in two cases of LGBT organizing in Lebanon in 2019-2020.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on the different, often conflicting understandings of 'intersectional organizing' surrounding Lebanese LGBT organizing. The core argument of the paper will be that both the diaspora and local Lebanese LGBT activists operate under the umbrella of 'intersectional organizing', but give diverging interpretations of the concept due to their different socio-political positionalities. For diaspora activists, 'intersectional organizing' primarily means paying special attention to inequalities within the LGBT community, which is linked to their positionality as both LGBT and people of color in the Western countries they currently inhabit. For local activists, on the other hand, 'intersectional organizing' primarily means alliance building, a conscious strategy to cope with the limited political opportunities LGBT movements face in the region. I will show how these different accounts of 'intersectional organizing' function on the ground by analyzing two episodes of LGBT organizing in Lebanon in 2019-2020: a protest against the ban of a local queer indie rock band, Mashrou' Leila and queer visibility at the anti-government demonstrations of the 'October Revolution'. Based on qualitative research consisting of videophone interviews with key activists in both Beirut and the Lebanese diaspora in Europe, as well as participant observation in online activist communities, I argue that the divergent understandings of 'intersectionality' lead to a series of contestations in the case of the Mashrou' Leila ban, while participation in the anti-government demonstrations was less contested due to the feasibility of integrating both understandings of intersectionality.