Dangerous Waters and Brave Space: A Critical Feminist Inquiry of Campus LGBTQ Centers

Abstract

Grounded in critical feminisms, this study examines lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) centers at public universities in the context of the regulating discourse of homonormative whiteness. Homonormative whiteness refers to dominant norms that constitute the queer body as White and male, positioning static ideas of whiteness and masculinity as normative. Interviews, including the use of mental maps, were conducted with 12 primary leaders at six campus LGBTQ centers. Findings signal three primary functions of LGBTQ centers: safety, legitimacy, and advocacy. Each function is situated in relation to the degree to which these centers spatially or discursively reproduce, resist, and/or transform homonormative whiteness. Taken together, these findings suggest a dynamic and context-specific understanding of the ways and reasons LGBTQ center leaders will act or otherwise shape the space and discourse of the center in ways that collude with or transform systems of power and dominance. Implications for research and practice, as well as specific recommendations for critically conscious organizational practice, are offered.