Sexual citizenship in Latvia: geographies of the Latvian closet

Abstract

This study examines sexual citizenship in Latvia. It investigates the process by which political narratives have heterosexed the nation since regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. My aim in exploring this process is to develop a deeper understanding of non-heteronormative identities and counter-hegemonic spaces in this heterosexist society. Drawing on discourse analysis of political media statements I argue that despite the legalizing of homosexuality, political narratives have continued to sex the nation as heterosexual, forging the national closet. I then explore how these narratives become experienced in lives of sexual minorities through the state's failure to prevent sexual discrimination. Drawing on participant observation and a decoding of the urban landscape, I investigate how the Latvian closet is materialized in the bodies and places of the everyday lives of ‘gay’ men living in the capital, Riga. Examined in this way insights are given to the spatial forms of political resistance to heterosexism in Latvia and how it differs from western models.

Keywords:

• Latvia
• Riga
• sexual citizenship
• national closets
• sexual minorities
• counter-hegemonic space

Acknowledgements

Research papers are in written in particular contexts. This paper draws on my particular personal involvement in the politics of international migration with Connie Friesert, Amnesty International, with whom many of these ideas were discussed. In Latvia, I want to thank everyone who made the time to talk. Three anonymous referees made a considerable contribution through their constructive criticism.