Page 172 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

158 Citizenship

a “ sexual minority. ” This is seen as the only realistic way to gain a hearing
for the extension of citizenship rights in liberal democracy. They are
claimed as “ minority rights, ” to be granted to those who are not respon-
sible for their sexual orientation and who should not, therefore, be per-
secuted and oppressed for it. This strategy depends, then, on the essentialist

view that homosexuality is an innate disposition. It fits with the conserva-
tive, medicalized view of gays and lesbians as born, not made. Although

this is certainly the belief of most self - identified gays and lesbians, it is at
odds with the arguments of sociologists. They are much more likely to
see homosexuality, like heterosexuality, as a historically and culturally

specific identity rather than an innate disposition: we learn to see ourselves
as having a “ sexuality ” only when such a view is socially available
(Weeks, 1986 ). This anti - essentialist view is also more likely to be held
by the younger generation of “ queer ” activists, who reject the fi xity of
the “ sexual minority ” claim in favor of a more disruptive challenge to the
status quo.
From a queer perspective, claims for “ minority rights ” actually con-
tribute to the dominance of an understanding of different sexualities as
“ normal ” or “ abnormal. ” This means that, at best, gays and lesbians can
only ever be tolerated, since they will always be the abnormal minority
(Herman, 1993 : 251). What queer activists agitate for is rather the disrup-

tion of all fixed identities: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and “ still
searching. ” This challenge extends to the naturalized links between repro-
ductive capacities, gender identity, and sexual desire prescribed as normal
by “ the heterosexist matrix ” in which masculine males must desire femi-
nine females and vice versa. Queer practices may disrupt, as Judith Butler
(1990) argues, by parodying and subverting gendered sexual identities,
showing that they are not the expression of innate, natural tendencies but
are nothing but performances. To quote a letter from a debate in the San
Francisco Bay Times , “ There is a growing consciousness that a person ’ s
sexual identity (and gender identity) need not be etched in stone, that it
can be fluid rather than static, that one has the right to PLAY with whom-

ever one wishes to play with (as long as it ’ s consensual), that the either/
or dichotomy ( ‘ you ’ re either gay or straight ’ is only one example of this)
is oppressive no matter who ’ s pushing it ” (quoted in Gamson, 1996 : 406).
In practice, queer activism is associated with “ in your face ” demonstra-
tions such as “ kiss - ins ” which “ mimic the privileges of normality ” (Berlant
and Freeman, quoted in Gamson, 1996 : 409), the return of camp styles
and other forms of irony, “ mixed ” venues for men and women, and
“ gender - fuck ” aesthetics like the photography of Della Grace in which
lesbians are shown using the paraphernalia of gay male desire (sometimes