We are just like everybody else: polarisation and queer activism in Lithuania

ENIn this chapter, I argue that polarized attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people in Lithuania are partially incited by sexualized renditions of same-sex sexualities. I argue that sexualization of same-sex sexualities is strategically used by anti-LGBTQ+ groups to render them dangerous to the nation, thus to increase a polarising effect by portraying LGBTQ+ people as enemies (‘them’) of the national collective (‘us’). I then discuss Lithuanian queer activist initiatives to counteract the polarising imagine of LGBTQ+ people as enemies of the nation and their efforts to legitimize LGBTQ+ people as members of Lithuanian society. I discuss how creating shared spaces to party, opening up to vulnerability and eliciting empathy aim to produce a more nuanced image of LGBTQ+ people, thereby diversifying the notion of the nation itself.