Abstract
The criticisms of “gay rights” as “special rights” are reflected back onto the issues and identities, including religious ones so dear to the right wing itself. Whether put forth by Irish-American queers, fundamentalist Christians, or the Ku Klux Klan, identity claims depend on public expression not only for recognition but also in part for their constitution. Whether queer practices are choices, the result of social construction, or even biologically determined to some degree, queer identities cannot be separated from the practices through which they are produced. This chapter describes the impasse at which liberalism has apparently arrived and the response of communitarian critics to that impasse. It provides suggestions for revising liberal notions about identity and rights. The chapter moves to the debate around queer rights claims, discussing both the rhetoric of special rights and the case law on the antigay ballot initiatives. It finally discusses the parameters of the new liberalism and queer rights.
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