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Presentation Overview
1971: Altmans Publication; We Demand Manifesto in Canada Canadian Landscape: LGBT Politics Queer Liberation Theory Project Gay Liberation to Queer Liberation: Evolving Definitions: Altman Definition Warner Definition Mul Definition Emerging Principles and Tenets Queer Liberation Theory in Development Challenges to Queer Liberation Importance of Queer Liberation Today
Focus of this paper on past work of CLGRO and current work of Queer Ontario
Gay liberation is part of a much wider movement that is challenging the basic cultural norms of our advanced industrial, capitalist and bureaucratic society and bringing about changes in individual consciousness and new identities and life styles. It is a movement that is political, not in the traditional way that we have used that word, but because it challenges the very definitions and demarcations that society has created. In many ways the argument between the political and the cultural revolutionaries is a false one; gay liberation, like the other sexual liberation movements, is in the long tradition of romantics and existentialists in its insistence that politics and culture merge into oneGay liberation is both an affirmation of the right to live as we choose and an intent to extend that right to others
Tom Warner (2002) Never Going Back: A History of Lesbian and Gay Activism in Canada:
It [gay liberation] means recognizing and fighting against the cultural conventions that reinforce and perpetuate inequities of power. Lesbian and gay liberation requires opposing the repression of sexuality and combating sexual stereotyping, sexism, heterosexual supremacy, violence, hatred, bigotry, and hypocrisy. It is based on an analysis of how and why gays and lesbians individually and as a group are oppressed. p. 8.
A critical queer liberation perspective engages in a process of questioning, resisting and challenging. Resistance to heteronormative socialization and conditioning a movement towards assimilationism to gain acceptance and respectability is rejected. Challenged are the hegemonic notions that heterosexuality and traditional gender identities and roles are the norm. Queer liberation calls for the creation of a society that is inclusive, respectful and accepting of the gender and sexually diverse populations, as these populations choose to define themselves and live their lives.
Updating gay liberation into a queer liberation reality furthers a change-based agenda
Contact:
Nick Mul, PhD Associate Professor School of Social Work Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies York University nickmule@yorku.ca