ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the politics of decriminalization of homosexuality since the 19th century in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) in different ideological contexts, with a particular focus on state-socialism and postsocialism. The first arguments for decriminalization focused on homosexuality as a form of pathology; arguments about privacy did not play a central role. Decriminalization took place in two waves, first during the state-socialist period of the 1960s and 1970s in several CEE countries, and a second in postsocialism in the 1990s for some Yugoslav and many Soviet successor states. This chapter identifies continuities between different ideologies and argues that ideology is not the determining factor. The experience of CEE suggests a need for a broader understanding of decriminalization as a process, not a one-off event, that considers the role of activism, social, and cultural factors. The diversity of the timing and forms of legalizing queerness complicates the conceptualization of (homo)sexual politics and the role of ideology across CEE, which challenges the conceptualization of this region as a bloc.
