Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T12:04:17.694Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Revolutionary Homophobia: Explaining State Repression against Sexual Minorities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2019

Joshua Tschantret
Joshua Tschantret*
Affiliation:
The University of Iowa
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Why do unthreatening social groups become targets of state repression? Repression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is especially puzzling since sexual minorities, unlike many ethnic minorities, pose no credible violent challenge to the state. This article contends that revolutionary governments are disproportionately oppressive toward sexual minorities for strategic and ideological reasons. Since revolutions create domestic instability, revolutionaries face unique strategic incentives to target ‘unreliable’ groups and to demonstrate an ability to selectively punish potential dissidents by identifying and punishing ‘invisible’ groups. Moreover, revolutionary governments are frequently helmed by elites with exclusionary ideologies – such as communism, fascism and Islamism – which represent collectivities rather than individuals. Elites adhering to these views are thus likely to perceive sexual minorities as liberal, individualistic threats to their collectivist projects. Statistical analysis using original data on homophobic repression demonstrates that revolutionary governments are more likely to target LGBT individuals, and that this effect is driven by exclusionary ideologues. Case study evidence from Cuba further indicates that the posited strategic and ideological mechanisms mediate the relationship between revolutionary government and homophobic repression.

Keywords

revolutionsregime typesexual minoritiesrepressionhuman rightsideology
Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , October 2020 , pp. 1459 - 1480
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almendros, N and Jiménez, O (1984) Conducta Impropia [Improper Conduct]. Madrid: Playor.Google Scholar
Arenas, R (1993) Before Night Falls. New York: Viking.Google Scholar
Arguelles, L and Rich, R (1991) Homosexuality, homophobia, and revolution. In Duberman M, Vicinus M and Chauncey G (eds), Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past. New York: Penguin, pp. 441–455.Google Scholar
Asal, V, Sommer, U and Harwood, P (2013) Original sin: a cross-national study of the legality of homosexual acts. Comparative Political Studies 46 (3):320–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baer, B (2015) Sexual minorities in modern Russia. In Smelser N and Baltes P (eds), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 740–743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell-Fialkoff, A (1993) A brief history of ethnic cleansing. Foreign Affairs 72 (3):110–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ben, P and Insausti, S (2017) Dictatorial rule and sexual politics in Argentina: the case of the Frente de Liberación homosexual, 1967–1976. Latin American Historical Review 97 (2):297–325.Google Scholar
Bennett, A and Checkel, J (2014) Process Tracing: From Metaphor to Analytic Tool. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, P (2003) Terror and Liberalism. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Brasil (2014) Comissão Nacional da Verdade. Relatório: Textos Temáticos [National Truth Commission Report: Thematic Texts]. Brasília: CNV.Google Scholar
Carmack, R (1995) Rebels of Highland Guatemala: The Quiche-Mayas of Momostenango. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Carroll, A and Itaborahy, L (2015) In state-sponsored homophobia. A World Survey of Laws: Criminalization, Protection, and Recognition of Same-Sex Love. Geneva: International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association.Google Scholar
Carter, D and Signorino, C (2010) Back to the future: modeling time dependence in binary data. Political Analysis 18 (3):271–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cingranelli, D and Richards, D (1999) Measuring the level, pattern, and sequence of government respect for physical integrity rights. International Studies Quarterly 43 (2):407–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cingranelli, D and Richards, D (2010) The Cingranelli and Richards (CIRI) human rights data project. Human Rights Quarterly 32 (2):401–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, D (2016) Rape During Civil War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colgan, J (2012) Measuring revolution. Conflict Management and Peace Science 29 (4):444–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colgan, J (2013) Domestic revolutionary leaders and international conflict. World Politics 65 (4):656–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colgan, J and Weeks, J (2015) Revolution, personalist dictatorships, and international conflict. International Organization 69 (1):163–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comstock, A (2016) Gay rights and US foreign aid: a look at Nigeria and Uganda. International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development 2 (1):1–16.Google Scholar
Davenport, C (2007a) State repression and political order. Annual Review of Political Science 10, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, C (2007b) State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, C and Armstrong, D (2004) Democracy and the violation of human rights: a statistical analysis from 1976 to 1996. American Journal of Political Science 48 (3):538–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drakos, K and Gofas, A (2006) The devil you know but are afraid to face: underreporting bias and its distorting effects on the study of terrorism. Journal of Conflict Resolution 50 (5):714–735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eck, K and Hultman, L (2007) One-sided violence against civilians in war: insights from new fatality data. Journal of Peace Research 44 (2):233–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fariss, C (2014) Respect for human rights has increased over time: modeling the changing standard of accountability. American Political Science Review 108 (2):297–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, J and Laitin, D (2003) Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war. American Political Science Review 97 (1):75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fein, H (1995) More murder in the middle: life-integrity violations and democracy in the world. Human Rights Quarterly 17 (1):170–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Firth, D (1993) Bias reduction of maximum likelihood estimates. Biometrika 80 (1):27–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fjelde, H and Hultman, L (2014) Weakening the enemy: a disaggregated study of violence against civilians in Africa. Journal of Conflict Resolution 58 (7):1230–1257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frank, D and Mceneaney, E (1999) The individualization of society and the liberalization of state policies on same-sex relations, 1984–1995. Social Forces 77 (3):911–944.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuyama, F (1989) The end of history? The National Interest 16, 3–18.Google Scholar
Geddes, B, Wright, J and Frantz, E (2004) Autocratic breakdown and regime transitions: a new data set. Perspectives on Politics 12 (2):313–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghaziani, A, Taylor, V and Stone, A (2016) Cycles of sameness and difference in LGBT social movements. Annual Review of Sociology 42, 165–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstone, J (2000) Toward a fourth generation of revolutionary theory. Annual Review of Political Science 4, 139–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J (1995) Liberalism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Greitens, S (2016) Dictators and their Secret Police: Coercive Institutions and State Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurr, TR (1993) Minorities at Risk: A Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflicts. Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace Press.Google Scholar
Gurr, TR (2000) People Versus States. Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace Press.Google Scholar
Gurr, TR and Harff, B (1994) Ethnic Conflict in World Politics. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez-Sanín, F and Wood, EJ (2014) Ideology in civil war: instrumental adoption and beyond. Journal of Peace Research 51 (2):213–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutiérrez-Sanin, F and Wood, EJ (2017) What should we mean by ‘pattern of political violence’? Repertoire, targeting, frequency, and technique. Perspectives on Politics 15 (1):20–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haeberle, E (1981) Swastika, pink triangle and yellow star—the destruction of sexology and the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany. Journal of Sex Research 17 (3):270–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harff, B (2003) No lessons learned from the Holocaust? Assessing risks of genocide and political mass murder since 1955. American Political Science Review 97 (1):57–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, D (2001) Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia: The Regulation of Sexual and Gender Dissent. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226922546.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegre, H et al. (2001) Toward a democratic civil peace? Democracy, political change, and civil war, 1816-1992. American Political Science Review 95 (1):33–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hildebrandt, A (2015) Christianity, Islam and modernity: explaining prohibitions on homosexuality in UN member states. Political Studies 63 (4):852–869.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, D and Jones, Z (2014) An empirical examination of explanations for state repression. American Political Science Review 108 (3):661–687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, D (1985) Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Huntington, S (1968) Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R and Norris, P (2003) Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Islamic State (2015) From hypocrisy to apostacy: the extinction of the Grayzone. Dabiq 7, 1–82.Google Scholar
Jakobsen, T and de Soya, I (2009) Give me liberty, or give me death! State repression, ethnic grievance and civil war, 1981–2004. Civil Wars 11 (2):137–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalyvas, S (2006) The Logic of Violence in Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalyvas, S and Kocher, M (2007) How “free” is free riding in civil wars? Violence, insurgency, and the collective action problem. American Journal of Political Science 59 (2):177–216.Google Scholar
Kalyvas, S (2015) Is ISIS a revolutionary groups and if yes, what are the implications? Perspectives on Terrorism 9 (4):42–47.Google Scholar
Kastellec, J and Leoni, E (2007) Using graphs instead of tables in political science. Perspectives on Politics 5 (4):755–771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennan, G (1954) Totalitarianism in the modern world. In Friedrich C (ed.), Totalitarianism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, NK (2018) Revolutionary leaders and mass killing. Journal of Conflict Resolution 62 (2):289–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koenigsberg, R (2009) Nations Have the Right to Kill: Hitler, the Holocaust and War. New York: Library of Social Science.Google Scholar
Krain, M (1997) State-sponsored mass murder: the onset and severity of genocides and politicides. Journal of Conflict Resolution 41 (3):331–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberman, E (2005) Nested analysis as a mixed-method strategy for comparative research. American Political Science Review 99 (3):435–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, S and Way, L (2013) The durability of revolutionary regimes. Journal of Democracy 24 (3):5–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lumsden, I (1996) Machos, Maricones, and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Lyall, J (2005) Paths of ruin: why revisionist states arise and die in world politics. PhD Dissertation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Lyall, J (2009) Does indiscriminate violence incite insurgent attacks? Evidence from Chechnya. Journal of Conflict Resolution 53 (3):331–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyall, J (2010) Are co-ethnics more effective counter-insurgents? Evidence from the Second Chechen War. American Political Science Review 104 (1):1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer, A (2013) Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Melson, R (1992) Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Morley, M (1987) Imperial State and Revolution: The United States and Cuba, 1952–1986. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mozaffari, M (2017) Islamism: A New Totalitarianism. New York: Lynne Reiner.Google Scholar
Ocasio, R (2002) Gays and the Cuban revolution: the case of Reinaldo Arenas. Latin American Perspectives 29 (2):78–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiter, D (2015) The positivist study of gender and international relations. Journal of Conflict Resolution 59 (7):1301–1326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhodes-Kublak, R (2015) Activist Citizenship and the LGBT Movement in Serbia. New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Rozenas, A, Schutte, S and Zhukov, Y (2017) The political legacy of violence: the long-term impact of Stalin’s repression in Ukraine. Journal of Politics 79 (4):1147–1161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rummel, R (1994) Power, genocide, and mass murder. Journal of Peace Research 31 (1):1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pape, R (2005) Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Piazza, J (2011) Poverty, minority discrimination, and domestic terrorism. Journal of Peace Research 48 (3):339–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierskalla, J (2010) Protest, deterrence, and escalation: the strategic calculus of government repression. Journal of Conflict Resolution 54 (1):117–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, M (2003) War and Genocide: Organized Killing in Modern Society. Oxford: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Skocpol, T (1979) States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staniland, P (2015) Militias, ideology, and the state. Journal of Conflict Resolution 59 (5):770–793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steele, A (2016) Electing displacement: political cleansing in Apartado, Columbia. Journal of Conflict Resolution 55 (3):423–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, C (2010) The Greenwood Encyclopedia of LGBT Issues Worldwide. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Straus, S (2007) Second-generation comparative research on genocide. World Politics 59 (3):476–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Straus, S (2012) ‘Destroy them to save us’: Theories of genocide and the logics of political violence. Terrorism and Political Violence 24 (4):544–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Straus, S (2015) Making an Unmaking Nations: War, Leadership, and Genocide in Modern Africa. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, J and Bond, K (2015) Women’s participation in violent political organizations. American Political Science Review 109 (3):488–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toft, MD (2005) The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Trost, T and Slootmaecker, K (2015) Religion, homosexuality and nationalism in the Western Balkans. In Sremac S (ed.), Religious and Sexual Nationalisms in Central and Eastern Europe. Boston, MA: Leiden, pp. 154–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tschantret, J (2018) Replication Data for: Revolutionary Homophobia: Explaining State Repression of Sexual Minorities, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QNKFDL, Harvard Dataverse, V1, UNF:6:8Sl+qmYVi6bDqsfBOZpYDw== [fileUNF].Google Scholar
US Department of State (2003) Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Colombia. Washington, DC: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.Google Scholar
Valentino, B (2004) Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Valentino, B, Huth, P and Balch-Lindsay, D (2004) ‘Draining the sea:’ mass killing and guerilla warfare. International Organization 58 (2):375–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varshney, A (2003) Nationalism, ethnic conflict, and rationality. Perspectives on Politics 1 (1):85–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verdeja, E (2012) The political science of genocide: outlines of an emerging research agenda. Perspectives on Politics 10 (2):307–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walt, S (1996) Revolution and War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, R and Thomas, J (2017) Women on the frontline: rebel group ideology and women’s participation in violent rebellion. Journal of Peace Research 54 (1):31–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, A (1981) Gays Under the Cuban Revolution. San Francisco, CA: Grey Fox Press.Google Scholar
Žižek, S (2012) Mapping Ideology. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Zhukov, Y (2018) External resources and indiscriminate violence: evidence from German-occupied Belarus. World Politics 69 (1):54–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Tschantret Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QNKFDL
Link
Supplementary material: File

Tschantret supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Tschantret supplementary material(File)
File 1 MB