Competing Sexual Citizenships: LGBTQ Activism in Puerta del Sol and Gezi Park

LGBTQ activism has been an active part in the “Occupy Movements”. In their respective squares, LGBTQ assemblies have established fruitful coalitions with other groups, produced an impact on the movement as a whole, and gained visibility for their demands beyond the limits of the movement itself. I will explore some similarities –and differences- between the strategies deployed by the Transmaricabollo de Sol Assembly, in the occupation of Puerta del Sol in Madrid, and the LGBT Block, in the occupation of Gezi Park in Istambul. Taking into account the contrast between the social and political contexts of LGBTQ citizenship in both countries, I will stress the importance of the bidirectionality of their spatial politics -toward the space of the city and toward the space of the protest- in order to gain a better understanding of the work developed by these and other “minoritary” groups within contemporary social movements.