Solidarity, Disdain, and the Imagined Center of the Gay Imagined Community

Abstract

The concept of imagined community has been deeply influential in scholarly understandings of nationality. In the three decades since its inception, however, the concept has expanded to be applied to a wider array of communities and identities, such as the elderly, secularists, hackers, and the LGBTQ + community. The bulk of this research has emphasized the in‐group solidarity produced by imagined communities. Yet, a small body of research specifically on LGBTQ + imagined communities suggests that imagined community may also be alienating and marginalizing. Based on analysis of interviews with 29 non‐heterosexual men, I find that respondents simultaneously discursively use the gay imagined community to stake a claim in community membership and to distance themselves from what they perceive to be negative aspects of that same community. This suggests that imagined communities can serve a more ambivalent function, both fostering solidarity and building boundaries. Moreover, my findings suggest the importance of studying communities’ “imagined centers.”