Scapegoating queers

Pink-blocking as state strategy

Bibliographic Data

ID2306435
AuthorsMeredith L Wei (0000-0002-2667-9571, University at Albany, State University of New York, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume73
Issue5
Pages695-713
Publication date2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCurrent Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-3921 • E-ISSN: 1461-7064
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00113921231217498
OpenAlexW4390342810
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited23

Malaysia's 'democratic transition' in May 2018, when a challenger coalition ousted the long-dominant incumbent coalition, raised hopes of a new political climate, more respectful of civil liberties. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Malaysians shared that sentiment; a growing number had even protested openly for political liberalization as part of an umbrella movement for electoral reform. Within months of the election, several higher profile incidents peppered a series of attacks on queer spaces and both state-sponsored and private harassment of LGBT Malaysians - even as Malaysia ticked upwards in global metrics of 'democracy'. Attention to LGBT peoples and issues remain at an all-time high in Malaysia, driven far less by queer activism than anti-LGBT agitation, in line with a government-led, base-ingratiating 'pink-blocking' agenda, rooted in both 'Asian values' and religious discourse. Here as elsewhere, queer identities and acts offer a handy diversion and scapegoat - and in Muslim-majority, increasingly Islamist Malaysia, anti-queer policies and policing affirm commitment to the presumed moral high ground of Malay-Muslim rights: pink-blocking offers a way to build coveted electoral support. In contrast, we may find recourse to 'pink-washing' strategies in countries lacking a similarly socially conservative, substantial base and/or competitive elections, and/or where currying favour with the west is a higher imperative

Democracy · Harassment · Lesbian · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Queer · Scapegoat · Scapegoating · Sociology · State (computer science) · Transgender · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Asian Studies and History · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy

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