Combative Integration: A Solution to the Tolerance Trap

• In Event: 097 - Section on Human Rights Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Queering Rights

Abstract

In this paper, I used data from 50 randomly selected opinion editorial articles in the New York Times from 2004 to 2014 to analyze how the modern LGBTQ Movement is framed. Specifically, I used content analysis to look at the words surrounding the phrase ‘Gay Rights Movement’ to formulate the ways in which the Gay Rights Movement has been perceived. I found that in most instances, the movement was framed as positive and one that signified a stand for tolerance. In this paper, I argue that the Gay Rights Movement has focused primarily on equality, which has led to a tolerance trap, encouraging a particular type of homosexual—one that can fit neatly into specific heterosexual norms. I also argue that if LGBTQ folk adopted a version of Erving Goffman’s ‘Militant Chauvinism,’ the movement could be understood as expecting more than merely tolerance. To add to Goffman’s work, I coined the term ‘Combative Integration’ as a way to position the LGBTQ movement in between the neutralizing (we are the same) move of normification and the difference-exaggerating (we are different) move of militant chauvinism.

Author

• Jamie Marie Sommer, State University of New York-Stony Brook