Should there be a 'T'?: Trans Perspectives on the LGBT Movement

• In Event: 594 - Regular Session. Sociology of Sexuality: Sexualities, Social Movements, and the Law

Abstract

Since the 1950s, the LGBT movement has fought to achieve social acceptance in the United States. There are, however, criticisms that the movement has spent too much time focused on issues that do not encompass the entire LGBT community. Studies of social movements make clear that movements that start out on a unified platform do get factionalized and argue that this may cause the breakdown of the movement (e.g. Evans 1979; Brown 1993; Duggan 2002; Stone 2009; Ghaziani 2011); my research builds on these studies, but takes a different approach. Rather than considering factionalization to be inherently problematic, I look to factionalization as a point of possible cohesion. Most literature on the LGBT movement focuses on gay and lesbian issues and/or from the perspective of gays/lesbians, this research places the focus on a trans* viewpoint. McCann’s (2011) study illuminates the chasm between the dominant and marginalized within the LGBT movement; I start from this chasm in order to examine how those who are most marginalized within the movement understand their membership and how these perspectives can present possible points of cohesion between the marginalized and dominant within. Interviews with trans* activists in Austin, Texas and San Francisco indicate that by changing from single issues that focus on specific communities, which create divisions and erase the needs of others, the movement could adopt a human rights framework that cuts across multiple communities (e.g. the problem of homelessness) and can simultaneously have an impact on society overall.

Author

• Thatcher Combs, University of Texas, Austin