Queering security: (in)securitisation and resistance of the LGBTQ community in Poland

Abstract

This thesis explores (in)security discourse of the LGBTQ community in Poland and their resistance to (in)securitisation. It engages with the narratives and experiences politically relevant in today’s Poland, where the government not only refuses to acknowledge insecurities faced by the LGBTQ individuals, but itself tries to present homosexuality as a threat. Problematisation of invisible subjects of security who paradoxically are created by the very process of securitisation is the primary focus of this study. Considering that concepts of security and resistance are differently practised outside the heteronormative frameworks, the study queers both concepts to capture security problems experienced by LGBTQ individuals and focuses on emancipatory and empowering potential of resistance. By doing so, it attempts to address the ways how marginalised groups can have more voice and agency to be included in inclusive queer informed security agenda. The study applies a theoretical framework informed by PARIS School of security studies rooted in broader International Political Sociological (IPS) and poststructuralist feminist critique of securitisation theory and seeks to provide a reformulated queered approach to (in)securitisation. By interviewing fifteen LGBTQ individuals and activists from Kraków, the study directly engages with the subjects of the research and puts their perceptions and experiences at the centre of the inquiry.