Queering Hamilton: Pop Culture and LGBTQ Civil Rights in U.S. Law and Politics

• In Event: Strategies for Advancing and Hindering LGBTQ Rights in the Law and Courts

Abstract

In recent years the LGBT movement has employed a classic civil rights narrative to gain impressive public support for the decriminalization of sodomy, military inclusion, and marriage equality, following the lead of various changes in pop culture during this period. This paper analyzes these developments by providing a queer interpretation of the popular musical Hamilton. The paper summarizes the promise and limitations of pop culture both for advancing greater popular acceptance of civil rights agendas as well as for fostering more critical, liberatory civil rights narratives in U.S. law and politics.

Author

• Susan R. Burgess, Ohio University