Soy Moderno y No Quiero Locas: Modernity and LGBT(Queer) Perú

This paper explores the LGBT rights movement in Peru from 1980 to the contemporary period. It uses a historically-based, ethnographic methodology to explore the relationship between globalization and LGBT rights. Particular focus is paid to the Movimiento Homosexual de Lima and the recent Union Civil Ya! movement. It builds off existing critical scholarship examining how Latin American LGBT movements respond to their historical and cultural conditions and develop notions of progress. The paper builds off of Judith Butler and Anne Tsing’s theories on universality and globalization as well as Peruvian Gonzalo Portocarrero’s analysis of Peruvian nationalism. Its main claim is that the Peruvian LGBT movement’s negotiations with global LGBT movements inhibits its ability to build a grassroots movement.