This book explores the alleged uniqueness of the European experience, and investigates its ties to a long history of LGBT and queer movements in the region. These movements, the book argues, were inspired by specific ideas about Europe, which they sought to realize on the ground through activism.

"The LGTBQ movement is not very much studied in social movement research. This very interesting collection contributes to fill this gap, which is all the more puzzling given the relevance of this movement in the struggle for civil rights and the deepening of democracy at different territorial levels. The contributions address an interesting variety of countries, geographical levels, but also areas of LGTBQ's activities - from legal practices to Queer festivals". Professor Donatella della Porta, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

"Is Europe gay? Ayoub and Paternotte offer exceptional insights into how gay rights came to be defined as a particularly European commitment. The articles in this well designed collection show LGBT recognition politics acquired such surprising symbolic weight, as bottom up claims-making and organizing from social movements and civil society organizations are met with top-down practical policies and international political posturing by both opponents and advocates. The overall argument is compelling, as the authors show how specific meaning-making practices drew the boundaries of modern and enlightened "Europe" around support for human rights for LGBT people. The cases chosen are excellent illustrations of how such a criterion of belonging to Europe then resonates at every level from foreign policy to personal identities". Myra Marx Ferree, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

"How did 'Europe' come to be seen as anadvocate of LGBT rights, in both global debates and the self-understanding of many Europeans? These wide-ranging essays illuminate how LGBT activists advanced this unlikely idea in the very process of mobilizing around it, and were in turn both deeply shaped by their association with the idea of Europe and implicated in the exclusions that idea fostered. An innovative and invaluable intervention". George Chauncey, Samuel Knight Professor of History, Yale University, USA

Autorentext

Carsten Balzer (aka Carla LaGata), Free University of Berlin, Germany Jon Binnie, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK Gianmaria Colpani, University of Verona, Italy and Utrecht University, the Netherlands Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy Adriano José Habed, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands Jan Simon Hutta, University of Bayreuth, Germany Christian Klesse, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK Kelly Kollman, University of Glasgow, UK Kevin Moss, Middlebury College, USA Leila J. Rupp, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA Anna van der Vleuten, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Associate Fellow of the Potsdam Centrum für Politik und Management, Germany Cai Wilkinson, Deakin University, Australia

Inhalt

1. Introduction; Phillip M. Ayoub and David Paternotte PART I: MEANINGS OF EUROPE 2. The European Origins of Transnational Organizing: The International Committee for Sexual Equality; Leila J. Rupp 3. LGBT activism in Kyrgyzstan: What Role for Europe?; Cai Wilkinson 4. 'In Europe it's Different': Homonationalism and Peripheral Desires for Europe; Gianmaria Colpani and Adriano José Habed PART II: PRACTICING EUROPE IN LGBTQ ACTIVISM 5. Deploying Europe: The Creation of Discursive Imperatives for Same-sex Unions; Kelly Kollman 6. Transnational LGBTI Activism and the European Courts: Constructing the Idea of Europe; Anna van der Vleuten 7. Queer Activism and the Idea of 'Practicing Europe'; Konstantinos Eleftheriadis PART III: BECOMING EUROPEAN 8. Trans Networking in the European Vortex: Between Advocacy and Grassroots Politics; Carsten Balzer and Jan Simon Hutta 9. Transnational Solidarities and LGBTQ Politics in Poland; Jon Binnie and Christian Klesse 10. Split Europe: Homonationalism and Homophobia in Croatia; Kevin Moss 11. Conclusion