The unexpected politics of ILGA-Europe’s rainbow maps: (de)constructing queer utopias/dystopias

Abstract

Recently, we have seen a proliferation of maps visualising the global state of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, plus (LGBTQI+) rights. While they represent a productive advocacy tool for activists, we critically examine the politics embedded and reinforced by the way maps and indices are constructed and represented. By exploring the discrepancies between ILGA-Europe’s rainbow maps and the lived experiences of LGBTQI+ people within Europe, we argue that these maps reproduce hierarchies often mediated by Eurocentric understandings of linear progress while discounting the importance that an interpenetration of legal and social aspects has in evaluating national contexts in which LGBTQI+ persons live. The emphasis on legislative frameworks, thus, in part displaces lived experiences of LGBTQI+ people in Europe, projecting both queer utopias and dystopias onto different geographical localities and feeding into existing homonationalist discourses. With such findings, we argue against the fetishisation of legislation within LGBTQI+ activism and academia.