Description
This article explores the emergence of modern statehood as being directly tied to colonial histories, making the state dependent on the reproduction of colonial exploitation, extraction, and death. In other words, the globalized modern state cannot be detached from colonial histories of colonial violence that targeted uncivilized bodies in an effort to tame them under the pretence of civilization. In exploring these dynamics, this article highlights the heteronormative structures of violence inherent to the state, categorising queer lives as uncivilized, in need of civilizing or death. Building on these histories and by conceptualising the state as a killing machine, the article argues that the modern state has, and continues to, kill queer radical politics. The article explores histories of violence directed towards queer individuals and queer organising. It focuses on US and British history of anti-homosexuality legislation and targeted campaigns against queer people and politics before examining contemporary LGBTQ+ rights as a system of co-option and delegitimization of queer radicalism.
