The Non/Performativity of Solidarity in Transnational LGBTIQ+ Activism: Possibilities and Tensions within Kenyan–Dutch Advocacy Spaces

Abstract: Drawing on multisited ethnography in Kenya and the Netherlands, this article explores how Kenyan LGBTIQ+ activists navigate opportunities, tensions, and constraints in transnational activism. As a case study, it examines Rights Out There—a solidarity event organized in the Netherlands by Dutch INGOs with the participation of activists from the Global South—to explore how external imposition and localized practices are negotiated. Its findings demonstrate that transnational spaces such as Rights Out There embody solidarity non/performances centered on addressing the “suffering other located elsewhere,” yet remain grounded in Western ideals and forms of organizing. It argues that such problematic spaces offer Kenyan activists room to reimagine how universalized LGBTIQ+ frameworks are adopted locally while challenging dominant expressions of solidarity. In turn, it opens up new possibilities for supporting transnational activism that is less hegemonic and more responsive to localized agencies and epistemologies.