A Different View

Many countries around the world continue to deny homosexuals and transgender people basic human, civil and self-determinatory rights. Lesbian women, gay men and transgender individuals frequently suffer legal harassment, social discrimination and, in many cases, brutal persecution. In the Global North, their situation is often viewed as a measure of democracy and civility. However, many fail to recognise that their legal situation does not adequately reflect their social environment. Moreover, few realise that the discrimination often occurs as a result of old colonial laws. In this respect, one could interpret the debate surrounding the legitimacy of heteronormative lifestyles as a battle waged not between cultures, but within cultures around the world.

This project examined whether the emancipation movements of Western industrial countries can provide impulses for the political and cultural struggles of queer communities in the Global South. Conversely, the project also explored what queer communities in Germany and specifically the Schwules Museum* can do to resolve the conflicts in post-migrant society. The fellowship wished to apply participative approaches with self-managed organisations of post-migrant queers who traditionally criticise museums, their organisational forms and exhibition practices as expressions of a “white”, “male” culture of dominance.