Divergent Definitions in the Visibility Strategy of the LGTB Movement in Cordova

• Published in: Iconos : publicación de FLACSO-Ecuador no. 39; pp. 61 - 77
• Main Authors: Iosa, Tomas, Rabbia, Hugo H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: 01-01-2011
• Subjects: Activism; Citizens; Political Movements; Protest Movements; Self Esteem; Subjectivity
• ISSN: 1390-1249

This article explores visibility as a problem, an objective & a strategy of LGTB activism. Focusing on the recent appropriation of the Pride March as a political practice on the part of one sector of the LGTB Cordova movement, the author examines how activists dispute legitimate modes of articulating a visibility strategy. Marked by the risk of commercialization & an emptying of political content, the march nevertheless constitutes a stage for new & opposing definitions of the citizen status of sexual-gender diversity. Based on field observations & interviews with activists, the author interrogates how the trajectory in militancy, the sexual-gender subjectivities at play, differential access to resources & the relatively radical character of their platforms constitute determining factors in the definition of the visibility strategy in 'festive' or 'combative' terms. Adapted from the source document.