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Russian LGBT Movement and Protest Activity

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The Emergence and Development of LGBT Protest Activity in Russia

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Abstract

Chapter 1 offers introduction to the book outlining the trajectory of Russian LGBT—lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender—protest activity. It identifies and discusses definitions of ‘protest’ and ‘social movement’ since they are central in the manuscript. While the Russian LGBT movement engages in a range of tactics and strategies, this book investigates LGBT protests organized in publicly accessible locations since Russian LGBT activists choose organization of and participation in such public events as one of the main tactics to achieve their goals. The chapter also discusses methodology employed for the study.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is necessary to address the abbreviation ‘LGBT’ I use in the book. Scholars (Blackwood & Wieringa, 1999; Chan, 2011; Jenkins, 2008) continuously debate the definitions that would properly reflect the complexity of the diverse spectrum of sexual orientation and gender identity. There are various umbrella terms such as ‘LGBT’, ‘LGBTQ’, ‘LGBTQ+’, ‘sexual minority’, and ‘queer’ employed by scholars and activists (Eliason, 2014; McInroy & Craig, 2012; O’Dwyer, 2018). I employ the abbreviation ‘LGBT’ in this manuscript because most Russian LGBT activists prefer this term. I use the term ‘LGBT activists’ as an umbrella term meaning lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists as well as heterosexual activists supporting LGBT rights.

  2. 2.

    The researcher’s positionality is a concept introduced by feminist scholars (McCorkel & Myers, 2003; Wolf, 1996) that refers to the researcher’s social location (e.g., race, gender, class) in relation to the sociopolitical context of the study and, in this case, between the interviewer and interviewee that might affect the interview dynamics.

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  1. Centre d’Etude de la Vie Politique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Radzhana Buyantueva

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Buyantueva, R. (2022). Russian LGBT Movement and Protest Activity. In: The Emergence and Development of LGBT Protest Activity in Russia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14891-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14891-0_1

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