3: Unveiling visibility: interrogating LGBTQI+ security in Kazakhstan

Overview & Synopsis

This chapter examines the intersections of geopolitics, security, and LGBTQI+ rights in Kazakhstan, with a focus on the securitisation of queer identities. As sexuality and gender become tools for delineating symbolic cultural boundaries between the West and the East, their geopolitical implications position them as matters of national security. This shift necessitates a thorough analysis of visibility, moving beyond state-centred interpretations of security towards decolonial approaches within Critical Security Studies (CSS). The chapter explores the importance of visibility within the LGBTQI+ movement, illustrating how queer activists in Kazakhstan skilfully navigate a securitised landscape, weighing visibility as a form of resistance against its associated risks. It highlights the complexity of LGBTQI+ activism, where visibility and security intersect with wider geopolitical discourses, and underscores the nuanced interplay between state-imposed norms of respectability and governmentality, and the agency of queer activists.