Navigating The Left Turn

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, a series of pro-LGBT reforms have taken place in Latin America, coinciding in part with the region's shift away from neoliberalism to the Left. The Ecuadorian state has been at the forefront of this trend, decriminalizing homosexuality in 1997 and including an anti-discrimination clause on the basis of sexual orientation in the 1998 Constitution, the first in the region to do so. The 2008 Constitution went further; redefining the family, recognizing same-sex civil unions and providing legal protection on the basis of gender identity. At the same time, the 2008 Constitution banned same-sex marriage and adoption and continues the ban on abortion – indications that heteronormativity continues to underlie state policy and law. What is at stake in the state's seemingly ambivalent embrace of LGBT and feminist struggles for sexual justice? We argue that this contradictory stance towards struggles for sexual justice is a result of the interplay between homophobic and homoprotectionist state strategies. We draw out the implications of this ambivalent form of state inclusion for queer and feminist politics and argue that activists' navigation of the left turn necessitates a deeply coalitional approach to politics, one that fosters alternatives to state-centered configurations of justice.

Keywords:

• sexual justice
• post-neoliberalism
• homophobia
• homoprotectionism
• pinkwashing
• pinkwedging
• Ecuador

Acknowledgements

We thank Ashley Currier and the anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes on contributors

Amy Lind is an interdisciplinary social scientist and political economist. Her recent work focuses on sexual politics, decolonial justice, and the shift to the Left in Ecuador and Latin America. She is the author of Gendered Paradoxes: Women's Movements, State Restructuring and Global Development in Ecuador (Penn State Press, 2005) and editor of Development, Sexual Rights and Global Governance (Routledge, 2010).

Christine (Cricket) Keating's work is in the areas of feminist political theory, global and transnational feminisms, democratic theory, postcolonial and critical race theory and queer theory. She is the author of Decolonizing Democracy: Transforming the Social Contract in India (Penn State Press, 2011) and has published articles in Signs: Journal of Women in Art and Culture, Hypatia, and additional journals.

Notes

1 Since then a more comprehensive study has been conducted which reveals a wide range of institutions and individuals that implement ‘reparative practices’ in Ecuador, suggesting that this terrain is more complex than initial human rights reports suggest (Wilkinson 2012).

2 By ‘post-neoliberal’ we are not implying that neoliberal policies no longer exist, but rather that they have lost their ‘quasi-hegemonic position’ as new forms of collective action and articulations of economic and social policy have gained salience (Grimson and Kessler 2005). Since the late 1990s, over two-thirds of Latin American nations have elected leaders with anti-neoliberal platforms. These leaders have drafted new policies and laws that purportedly shift their countries away from free-market development and ideologies, toward a stronger form of decolonial sovereignty which includes broader citizen participation including that of LGBT individuals.

3 See Boellstorff (2004), Murray (2007), Currier (2010, 2012) and Weiss and Bosia (forthcoming).

4 See Bedford (2009) for a discussion of why and how such a more inclusive neoliberalism – a seemingly kinder, gentler version of the approach – nonetheless serves the aims of global capital.

5 Interestingly, the Health Ministry announced in March 2013 that birth control, including the ‘morning after’ pill, will now be offered and available for free to women and adolescents through the state's healthcare system, a definitive advance for reproductive justice (La República 2013).

6 The so-called M-8 protests began on 9 March 2012 and were focused on the Correa administration's pro-extractive development policies in indigenous territories. Led by indigenous leaders, they included many other political sectors as well. On the same day, the Correa administration organized a large 8 March International Women's Day event in Quito as a way to support his government.