LGBTQ Politics in Nicaragua: Revolution, Dictatorship, and Social Movements by Karen Kampwirth (review)

Nicaragua is not notable for being especially repressive nor particularly accepting in terms of gay rights, but it is notable that there is an absence, an ambivalence, and a lack of specific policies, especially when compared to other parts of Latin America. This is to say that Nicaragua has a consistent lack of specific laws and policies regarding homosexuality or trans individuals (the anti-sodomy law of 1992 to 2008 notwithstanding). As political scientist Karen Kampwirth posits in LGBTQ Politics in Nicaragua: Revolution, Dictatorship, and Social Movements, perhaps the knowledge that a number of gay and lesbian Sandinistas were fairly influential in the movement prevented the early adoption of anti-gay laws, as happened in Cuba and Nicaragua (p. 54).

Donald Casco is an interesting figure to focus on: a 9amboyant and openly gay man who had a popular TV show during the Sandinista revolution. Casco is reminiscent of Walter Mercado in the sense that he was very spiritual and intellectual, and his show focused largely on horoscopes and psychic topics. Unlike Walter Mercado, however, Casco was openly homosexual, which is impressive in the context of Nicaragua of the 1980s. His show ran through the 1980s, during the revolution, so one had to have a television in their home to see it, and many of the people who remember him were women who worked at home, or were too young or too old to fight at the time. Regardless, Casco made an impression because many children who suspected they were gay, lesbian, or transgender looked up to him as a cultural icon. He was from a relatively well-off family, which likely contributed to his being able to safely be open about his sexuality. Casco's experience can be linked to contemporary realities in Nicaragua relating to the influence of class on LGBTQ experiences. Nicaraguans who have higher educational attainment and higher incomes have the possibility to be more open about their "nonnormative" sexuality (p. 117) or gender identity without as much risk of negative consequences in their social and family circles, compared to Nicaraguans from working class backgrounds.

Another key idea that Kampwirth discusses in this work is the phenomenon of a so-called queer culture that originated in the Global North and has been exported to the Global South. She discusses how this is ironic, given the historical reality of the West slowing the expansion of queer cultures in "exotic" places that may have previously been more accepting of homosexuality and non-binary gender identities. In other words, first the Western/Christian/capitalistic societies stifled queer sexualities and identities in places they colonized, and now the opposite seems true, where Global North countries are perceived to be imposing more progressive ideas about sexuality and gender in Global South countries that have very conservative norms. The irony is rather mind-boggling.

Kampwirth sheds light on the importance of keeping a culturally specific lens in mind when examining LGBTQ politics and experiences in Nicaragua from our Global North perspective. For example, the importance of coming out as a political strategy to gain more widespread social acceptance has been relatively successful in the Global North, but it has also developed in a very different political and economic reality from that in Nicaragua. This is especially the case considering the United States's highly individualistic culture and the economic ability of many U.S. citizens to move away from their families as young adults and experience queer lifestyles in greater privacy. By comparison, many Nicaraguans cannot afford to live on their own, and consequently live with their families for most of their lives, which does not as readily lend itself to the privacy or space to explore alternative sexualities, identities, and lifestyles. It is notable that in Nicaragua as well as in the Global North, universities provide safe places where young...