Queer History of Belarus in the Second Half of the 20th Century: Presentation in Berlin
When: 26.10.2016, 18:00.
Where: AB Queer, Sanderstrasse 15, Berlin.
Who: Uladzimir Valodzin (Minsk).
Format: presentation of a publication.
There were little attempts to write Belarusian queer/LGBTI history until recent time. The publication named “Queer history of Belarus in the second half of the 20th century: a preliminary study” is a first of its sort. It is a result of work of an activist research team from Minsk, Belarus.
Soviet homosexuals were existing only as “criminals” (subjects to juridical scrutiny) or “mentally ill” (subjects of study on sexopathology), so both legal and sexopathological discourses will be touched in the talk. Now there are figures available, so we may see how many men were sentenced for “sodomy” (“мужеложство”) in the Soviet Union in general and in Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic in particular. Oral history sources are crucial for understanding the everyday life of gays, lesbians and other queers in times of public invisibility, so those sources will also be mentioned. Finally, queer media of the 1990s are important in reconstructing the history of emerging LGBT rights movement.
During the presentation it will be possible to obtain a free copy of the publication.
Poster of the event may be downloaded here:
queerhistoryberlinversion2