Agency and resistance amongst queer people in Kazakhstan

Earlier Sexual Debut and Anti-Gay Victimization Among Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) in Kazakhstan

“…In Kazakhstan, homophobia has been attributed to widespread Russian colonial influence within the region and is a socially and politically constructed environmental risk factor for SGD people (Levitanus, 2022; Wilkinson, 2020). As a result of anti-gay social norms, SGD people have reported experiences of violence and discrimination from family members, employers, and members of the state (Amnesty International, 2017; Latypov et al, 2013; Levitanus, 2022; Paine et al, 2021).…”

“…In Kazakhstan, homophobia has been attributed to widespread Russian colonial influence within the region and is a socially and politically constructed environmental risk factor for SGD people (Levitanus, 2022; Wilkinson, 2020). As a result of anti-gay social norms, SGD people have reported experiences of violence and discrimination from family members, employers, and members of the state (Amnesty International, 2017; Latypov et al, 2013; Levitanus, 2022; Paine et al, 2021). SGD Kazakhstani people are not legally protected from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and are restricted from freedom of peaceful assembly, association, and expression in part by censored state-controlled media (Amnesty International, 2017).…”

“…Although consensual same-sex sexual behavior among men was decriminalized in 1998, same-sex marriage remains illegal in Kazakhstan (Amnesty International, 2017; Wilkinson, 2020). Homophobic social attitudes and norms in Kazakhstan have been associated with violent crimes against SGD people, and survivors of anti-gay violence risk inadequate and abusive responses from police, prosecutors, judges, and other members of the legal system (Amnesty International, 2017; Levitanus, 2022). The nascent empirical research literature on SGD people in Kazakhstan has primarily focused on the harms of substance use and HIV, and less is known about violence against MSM and other SGD groups in Kazakhstan (Berry et al, 2012; Paine et al, 2021).…”

“…Risk environment theory was developed in response to critiques that health research, particularly HIV research among marginalized populations, over-emphasizes individual-level factors, personal responsibility, and rational choice decision making and fails to adequately acknowledge the influence of socially-produced environmental and structural influences to health risk behaviors (Rhodes et al, 2012). HIV risk factors, such as earlier age of sexual debut and violent victimization, among SGD people are shaped not only by individual-level behaviors (e.g., sexual victimization) but by homophobic social, cultural, and political norms (e.g., limited legal protections for SGD victims of violence) (Amnesty International, 2017; Levitanus, 2022; Outlaw et al, 2011; Tomori et al, 2016). The authors theorize that links between earlier age of sexual debut and experiences of victimization among SGD populations are contextualized by anti-gay forms of systemic and structural violence and vulnerability.…”

‘I Thought I'd Kill Myself When I Grew Up’: Queer Childhood Narratives in Kazakhstan

“…From this perspective, narratives of queer childhood are both vehicles through which power and discourses are circulated, while at the same time offering spaces and tools for those discourses to be grappled with and resisted. 2 Parts of this chapter have been published in a doctoral thesis submitted to the University of Edinburgh (Levitanus, 2020) and other chapters (Levitanus, 2022a(Levitanus, , 2023.…”