Queering Quito : the use of art-action to open space for the LGBTI community in Ecuador

In recent years, political gains for LGBTI rights in Ecuador have not been accompanied by cultural shifts toward tolerance. This thesis looks at the use of drag and performance art as activism in the context of the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, as an evolution of LGBTI activism in response to cultural hostility. Interviews with two primary art-activist organizations are analyzed through the lens of performance theory. This analysis finds that art-activism provides activists with an inroad into structures of heteronormativity and homophobia to shift the broader culture in ways that activism of an exclusively political orientation cannot.