Gay Rights Research Articles

Bad Queers: LGBTQ People and the Carceral State in Modern America

The war on sex offenders was an American campaign against sex crime that began in the 1930s and is still ongoing. In this review essay, I argue that the architects and opponents of that war engaged in political struggles that—especially during the pivotal era of the long 1970s—produced, criminalized, and hierarchized multiple new categories of “good” and “bad” LGBTQ legal subjects. In making this argument, my aim is to bring the field of LGBTQ political and legal history—especially the work of George Chauncey ([1994] 2019) and Margot Canaday (2009)—into closer conversation with scholarship by queer theorists who are not historians—especially Gayle Rubin ([1984] 2011a) and Michael Warner (1999)—about the stigmatization of non-normative gender and sexual practices. While historians have examined the policing of multiple queer behaviors in the early twentieth century, their examinations of the post-1945 period have been concerned primarily with the consolidation of a starker social and legal binary between homo- and heterosexuality. As their narratives get closer to the present, the most stigmatized “bad” queers become more and more tangential. At least in part, this has been because historians have been under the same pressure as LGBTQ activists to distance LGBTQ identity from the stigma of sexual “deviance”—especially sex that violated age-of-consent statutes—in order to promote the political project of LGBTQ rights. Placing bad queers at the center of LGBTQ political and legal history diversifies who counts as a subject of this history and reveals an even bigger carceral state that governed them.

הומולאומיות והפוליטיקה של תנועות להט"ב בישראל

Two processes have been central to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual) movement in politics since the end of the 1980’s: NGOization, which has led to the practice of assimilation, and homo-nationalism, representing a binary process of normalization and national inclusion. The amalgamation of NGOization and homonationalism have greatly influenced the movements, their agenda, practices, achievements and networks. The article sheds light on the broad neoliberal processes used by the Israeli LGBT movements to achieve power and status. The analysis traces major milestones from the 1980’s to the 21st century. Viewed through a neoliberal perspective, LGBT social movements are revealed to have worked and grown and become more institutionalized and normalized. However, this does not reflect the attainment of more power by the LGBT social movements in Israel; it is indicative rather of their privatization by the state which enables LGBT social movements to fill a niche under the government’s exclusive responsibility. Thus, in the 21st century, the value and valuation of LGBT subjects have been established not so much by the work of their social movements but through their economic and urban power reflective of ’post-homonationalism.

A Simple and Rather Tender Thing? Laurence Housman's Victoria Regina in 1930s Britain and America.

From 1935 to 1939, audiences on both sides of the Atlantic thronged theatres to see Laurence Housman's play Victoria Regina, a series of vignettes about the life of Queen Victoria. Those unable to purchase tickets were able to read about the show in magazines and newspapers, listen to a radio production, and purchase clothing and home furnishings that reflected the revival of interest in the Victorian era. Yet to the extent that scholars have discussed this incredibly popular play and the Victorian revival that it spawned, they tend to ascribe its success to a nostalgic impulse, or what Alison Light has described as the phenomenon of 'conservative modernity'. This article reframes Victoria Regina, by treating it as a site of provocation and meaning-making in a charged transatlantic context. As I show, Housman (1865-1959)-a free speech advocate, Quaker pacifist, committed internationalist, anti-imperialist, feminist, and nascent gay rights activist-wanted to use Victoria to goad, intentionally so. His Victoria may have been romantic and feminine, but she was still intended as a vehicle of dissent. Housman wrote Victoria Regina primarily to protest censorship laws in Britain, but also to provide a more woman-centered version of the nation's past, and to promote conciliation over the conflict between Germany and Britain. It was in its capacity as a cultural bridge between the UK and the USA, however, that Victoria Regina ended up making its most sizeable impact. This article thus offers an important meditation not only on the relationship between theatre and politics in the interwar period but also on the Victorian inheritance and its continuing and sometimes surprising applications in the twentieth century-especially in facilitating the Anglo-American 'special relationship'.

Border Regimes: Homophobia and LGBT Place Making in Six Ordinary Cities in Europe

European nation states increasingly hail LGBT identities as part of modern values; LGBT recognitions have become a symbol of secular achievements. Discourses around gay rights and sexual diversity are increasingly pitted against presumably homophobic and intolerant ‘others’. An increased intolerant and repressive attitude towards migrants and racialised minorities is justified by their supposed threat to exactly these values. LGBT tolerance is used as a marker for modern values and this positions LGBT people as ‘border patrollers’ who can count as part of the modern liberal nation. This paper analyses 92 interviews with LGBT participants who live in six small and medium sized ordinary cities in Europe. It discusses how their fear of homophobia is evaluated according to perceived sexual norms and attitudes at the neighbourhood level. Neighbourhoods are considered either LGBT friendly or unfriendly according to their socio-demographic characteristics that focus on social class and/or migration and that intersects with race, ethnicity and religion. Based on the findings, neighbourhoods are both a geographical and a cultural terrain that can be understood, organised and contested through a sexuality discourse in the production of border regimes that discipline and produce the confines of the normative, the ‘modern’ and the ‘backward’. Not only are LGBT people positioned as border patrollers but they express their fear of homophobia also through bordering. The neighbourhood can then be understood, organised and contested through a sexuality discourse in the production of border regimes.

Protecting difference: A discussion on transphobic and homophobic hate crime in the Irish context

Ireland has been applauded internationally for its legislative progress in supporting the rights of (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) LGBT+ citizens. Yet much of the positive change within the social and political context of sexuality and gender expression has been achieved by campaign groups, operating outside government boundaries. Notwithstanding these advances, LGBT+ people continue to face discrimination, abuse and violence. Concerns surrounding acts of aggression towards transgender and gay people call for an ongoing dialogue between legislators, policymakers, and practitioners to explore ways in which safety can be ensured. This article draws from an emerging body of scholarship and research to question the effectiveness of current social policy and legislation in Ireland. It offers a discourse on hate crime related to transphobia and homophobia, while challenging the existing political thinking. Multi-agency collaborative working is suggested as key to fostering solutions together with changes in legal paradigms, and the continued formation of policy aimed at safeguarding the LGBT+ community.

Jonathan Bell (ed.), Beyond the Politics of the Closet: Gay Rights and the American State since the 1970s (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020, $49.95). Pp. 280. isbn 978 0 8122 5185 2.

Jonathan Bell (ed.), Beyond the Politics of the Closet: Gay Rights and the American State since the 1970s (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020, $49.95). Pp. 280. isbn 978 0 8122 5185 2. - Volume 55 Issue 5

Dancing Revolution: Bodies, Space and Sound in American Cultural History, by Christopher J. Smith

<i>Dancing Revolution: Bodies, Space and Sound in American Cultural History</i>, by Christopher J. Smith

Polish LGBTQ+-Related Anglicisms in a Language Contact Perspective

Abstract Research on anglicisms in Polish has nearly a century-long tradition, yet it was Jacek Fisiak’s 1960s–1980s studies on English loanwords that initiated continuous academic interest in anglicisms, coinciding with more intensive English-Polish language contact in post-war Poland. While English loans have been well-researched in the last four decades, the ongoing intensity of English lexical influence on Polish, yielding not only new loans but also new loan types, calls for further studies, especially in the area of quickly developing professional jargons and sociolects. The influx of English-sourced lexis is reflected in the diversity of semantic fields, whose number has grown from 18 (identified in Słownik warszawski 1900–1927) to 45 (Mańczak-Wohlfeld 1995). A semantic field that has been underresearched in studies on Polish anglicisms is the LGBTQ+-related lexis, which has drawn from American English gayspeak, shaped by the post-Stonewall gay rights movement initiated in the 1970s. The language data analysed in this study have been collected in a two-stage procedure, which included manual extraction of anglicisms sourced in a diversified corpus of LGBTQ+-related written texts, published in Polish between 2004 and 2020. The second stage involved oral interviews which served a verification function. The aim of this study is to contribute to the lexicographic attempts at researching English-sourced LGBTQ+-related vocabulary in Polish through its identification, excerption, and classification. Assuming an onomasiological approach to borrowing, we arrange LGBTQ+-related anglicisms on a decreasing foreignness scale to identify the borrowing techniques adopted by the recipient language speakers in the loan nativization process. We also address issues related to the identification and semantics of loans, and sketch areas of research on loan pragmatic functions that need further studies.

Beyond the Politics of the Closet: Gay Rights and the American State since the 1970s

Beyond the Politics of the Closet: Gay Rights and the American State since the 1970s

A Gay New York City in Mart Crowley’s “The Boys in the Band”

Abstract “The Boys in the Band,” a play by American playwright Mart Crowley (1935-2020), represents a milestone in the representation of urban gay men in theater. By exploring on stage the lives of a group of male gay friends in the late 1960s, Crowley challenged social and dramaturgical norms and conventions. As an integral part of the narrative, New York City, specifically Manhattan Island, makes itself present in the text through direct and indirect references, whether on the level of plot, character construction, or the setting of the play itself. As a paradigmatic play in a moment of special prominence of the Gay Movement in the United States, soon after its premiere in 1968 and before the release of its first film adaptation, “The Boys in the Band” came to be seen differently by critics and activists under the influence of a historical event that also occurred in Manhattan, the Stonewall Riots. This article explores the various instances in which the play, especially in its first Off-Broadway staging, represents not only a gay New York City, but also how this same place made possible the existence of this story and these characters.

It’s Only You and Me and We Just Disagree: The Ideological Foundations of Affective Polarization

Abstract Using the extensive battery of issue questions included in the 2020 ANES survey, I find that a single underlying liberal-conservative dimension largely explains the policy preferences of ordinary Americans across a wide range of issues including the size and scope of the welfare state, abortion, gay and transgender rights, race relations, immigration, gun control and climate change. I find that the distribution of preferences on this liberal-conservative issue scale is highly polarized with Democratic identifiers and leaners located overwhelmingly on the left, Republican identifiers and leaners located overwhelmingly on the right and little overlap between the two distributions. Finally, I show that ideological preferences strongly predict feelings toward the parties and presidential candidates. These findings indicate that polarization in the American public has a rational foundation. Hostility toward the opposing party reflects strong disagreement with the policies of the opposing party. As long as the parties remain on the opposite sides of almost all major issues, feelings of mistrust and animosity are unlikely to diminish regardless of Donald Trump’s future role in the Republican Party.

The Sexual Rights of Others: Majoritized Women’s Support for Marginalized Women’s Sexual Rights

ABSTRACT Advocates argue that sexual safety, access to sexuality-related services, sexual health and well-being, sexual privacy, and sexual autonomy are universal and inalienable rights of all people. However, for those relegated to the social, economic, and political margins, their sexual rights can only be secured with the support of others. In the current study, we examined whether a sample of 307 majoritized women (i.e., white, cisgender, and heterosexual) would endorse the sexual rights of four theoretical groups of marginalized women: those who identify as lesbian; those with low incomes; those who are adolescents; and those labeled with an intellectual disability (ID). Whereas results indicated broad and equivalent support for the sexual rights of lesbians and low-income women, participants were somewhat equivocal about the sexual rights of ID-labeled women and least supportive of the sexual rights of adolescent women. We consider how protectionist attitudes toward adolescent and ID-labeled women may explain these findings and ultimately undercut their sexual rights. Rather than restrict the rights of marginalized women, even in the interests of protection, we advocate committing energy and resources to reducing their vulnerability so that all women may exercise a full complement of sexual rights.

Gay and Lesbian Liberation in the Low Countries: From Stonewall to Pink Pillar

Abstract This article examines the legacy of Stonewall in the Netherlands and Belgium, exploring how the gay and lesbian liberation movement resonated with pre-existing activism, national political cultures, and the peculiar structure of civil society in the Low Countries. American influences were real but limited until the later 1970s when the emergence of anti-gay politics in the US fuelled international solidarity under the flag of Stonewall and Gay Pride. The Dutch and Flemish authorities’ willingness to accommodate the mainstream movements early on limited the appeal and effectiveness of confrontational liberationism.

Queer in Translation: Sexual Politics under Neoliberal IslamLGBTI Rights in Turkey: Sexuality and the State in the Middle East

Queer in Translation: Sexual Politics under Neoliberal IslamLGBTI Rights in Turkey: Sexuality and the State in the Middle East

Queer Belfast during the First World War: masculinity and same-sex desire in the Irish city

AbstractQueer history is still in its infancy in Ireland, with political approaches and the more recent past, and the gay rights movement particularly, providing the primary focus so far. This article takes a different approach by investigating the everyday experiences, identities and policing of men who had sex with men in the early twentieth century. Using two extraordinary case studies from Belfast during the First World War, I explore different lives ― from youth to adulthood, sexual encounter to arrest, and trial to life afterwards. I argue that queer culture in Belfast shared aspects with other western metropolises, particularly in terms of urban cruising, payment for sex and relationships structured by class. Public responses too, from newspaper to courtroom, were articulated through transnational formulations of respectability and masculinity. At the same time, however, Belfast's queer men were shaped by their movement within a peculiarly Irish network of places, both in and beyond the country's borders. Religious and political structures specific to Ulster also affected how such men fared in the legal system and in their lives following their trials. By detailing both the similarities yet divergences of queer experience in Belfast, I thus aim to raise a new agenda for studying male sexuality in the north of Ireland.

Lived Experiences of Gay and Lesbian Adolescents on their Way to Achieving Self-actualization: Basis for the Development of U-Bahaghari: A University-Based LGBT Advocacy Program

As part of the marginalized and minority group, members of the LGBTQ++ community have a lot of different experiences compared to heterosexual males and females. Being in the stage of identity formation, adolescent gays and lesbians have conflicting and complicated experiences. Their motivation to achieve self-actualization is affected by societal expectations and peer influences. This study aimed to explore how adolescent gays and lesbians try to achieve self-actualization and how the school environment could assist them since they spend most of their time inside the walls of educational institutions. This is done by using thematic analysis. The results indicate that self-worth, gender, coming-out, and motivation are the dominant themes related to the self-actualization of gay and lesbian adolescents. The results also indicated that an inclusive campus climate could promote self-actualization. The role of peers, family members, and the school community is very important in the process. A program that includes a proposed school policy for members of the LGBTQ++ community had been developed in response to the results of the current study. It is recommended that schools should take into consideration the LGBTQ++ students in formulating policies for the entire student body. Schools should also promote the creation of groups and facilitation of activities for LGBTQ++ students.

A Pandemic Term With "Highly Charged Issues": The U.S. Supreme Court 2020-2021.

The 2020-2021 U.S. Supreme Court Term was expected by experts to be uninteresting, but it proved to be quite the opposite. There were surprising unanimous decisions, and some unexpectedly “highly charged issues.” Several of the decisions will be important to mental health professionals (foster care and the conflict of gay and religious rights, juvenile life sentences, and “community caretaking”), and to health care providers more generally (the Affordable Care Act, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and COVID cases). Other decisions of general interest included immigration cases, election laws, and college athletics. Some of the most important cases arose in the “Shadow Dockets,” an often-ignored series of orders by the Court. The article discusses the most important cases of the Term (including those in the Shadow Docket), analyzes the meaning of the Term, and looks to the cases to be decided next Term.

The rise of the new Polish far-right

Abstract While much research has been done regarding right-wing discourse in modern Europe, the literature of Polish far-right discourse is still insufficient. The present paper discusses the discursive strategies of Grzegorz Braun, one of the leaders of Confederation Liberty and Independence, which were implemented by the politician during the 2019 Gdańsk mayoral campaign. In order to provide a comprehensive analysis of Braun’s discourse, audiovisual materials were included in the study. The findings show that Braun employs positive presentation of the Catholic Church and himself, and negative presentation of his opponents (LGBT activists, immigrants, the European Union, the elites), whom Braun considers to be in an alliance against Poland and its core values under the name of the “Gdańsk Pact”.

Elephants in the room: chronically ill people and access to LGBTQA+ spaces

The article explores the issue of accessibility for disabled and chronically ill people in LGBTQA* spaces and its implications on a political level. The first part focuses on the theoretical premises that understand able-bodiedness as a system of compulsion: drawing from the insights offered by crip studies, accessibility is framed as a political claim that challenges the supposed normalcy built on able-bodied and heterosexual models. Also, the notion of LGBT spaces as paradoxical spaces is discussed. The empirical context of the research is explained in the second part, which also outlines a brief overview on chronic illness and on some aspects of LGBT activism in relation to intersectionality in Italy and Portugal. In the following section, the article discusses the inaccessibility of some practices of activism: the focus is on how activism happens and how many of the common practices adopted are actually based on presumptions of able-bodiedness. Pride Parades, assemblies, marches all constitute challenging moments in which interviewees are confronted with the difficulty of complying with the expectation of having a "bionic body". In the last section, the focus moves to relations within activist circles in relation to invisibility and coming out as chronically ill: interviews show the tension between coming out or staying in the closet, and the contradictions of doing intersectional politics without including accessible practices within collectives. Through these narratives, I suggest the idea that LGBTQA* spaces are still very much embedded into able-bodied presumptions which result in multiple obstacles for the participation of chronically ill members; also, I argue that, in order to create inclusive and safe spaces for LGBTQA* people, it is necessary to make advancements in the way disability and chronic illness are thought within LGBTQA* communities.

Lil Watan: Queer patriotism in chauvinistic Lebanon

There exists a robust literature on the impact of the sexualisation of the war on terror as an imperial endeavour on both queer and non-queer subjects in the Middle East. This article explores the consequences for LGBT activism of the localisation of the war on terror in the region and the securitisation of governance, taking Lebanon as its focus. I argue the importance of thinking through the ways in which the war on terror is localised, taken advantage of and used as a means of strengthening state power in the Global South, and the effects of such processes on activism. I explore how LGBT activists in Lebanon have engaged the war on terror as an instrument of local rather than foreign power. The weaponisation of the war on terror as an instrument of governance by the Lebanese state, I argue, has reshaped the field within which LGBT activists in the country articulate and lobby for their rights and has enabled a turn towards what I call proto-homonationalism amongst some LGBT actors in Lebanon – attempts at positioning certain segments of the LGBT population as not only of the nation but beneficial to the security state.