Militantisme et identités gaies et lesbiennes : quelle identité pour quels objectifs ?
The war in Iraq poses a challenge for identity-based social movements. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement is split as to whether it should mobilize exclusively around issues narrowly defined in terms of sexual orientation. This raises the theoretical issue of the relationship...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
2008-05-01
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| Series: | Transatlantica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/3243 |
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| Summary: | The war in Iraq poses a challenge for identity-based social movements. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement is split as to whether it should mobilize exclusively around issues narrowly defined in terms of sexual orientation. This raises the theoretical issue of the relationship between collective identity and political goals: is identity determined by goals, or is it the reverse? LGBT organizations’ diverging stances on the war in Iraq lead us to conclude that identity is not a given—an essentially apolitical identity which is politicized out of necessity—but a vehicle and a signifier of political meaning which it does not in itself determine. Consequently, the politically significant fault-line in the LGBT movement does not derive from traditional divisions (sameness v. difference, integration v. separation) : the significant issue is instead whether identity is conceived of in fixed, or fluid terms. |
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| ISSN: | 1765-2766 |