Abstract
This article provides a queer theoretical reflection on the emergence of lesbian, gay, and queer (LGQ) youth as subjects of policy attention in Australia in the late twentieth century. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which specific forms of social, bureaucratic, and organizational recognition have given shape to LGQ youth as categorical policy objects. To this end, this article critically interrogates social policy related to the provision of funding for LGQ youth support during the 1980s and 1990s in two Australian states: New South Wales and Western Australia. More specifically, it focuses on some of the ways in which LGQ youth have been discursively shaped and materially supported in three different organizations, two of which continue to be strongly associated with support of LGQ youth in Australia. This study of the emergence of these organizations, resourced by three different sectors—the state, the church, and the LGQ community itself—necessarily draws on ephemeral resources, reflecting the conditions of possibility in which this work was being enacted. We conclude with an analysis of the necessity for situating policy recognitions within specific contexts to examine the implications for LGQ youth as the subjects such recognitions simultaneously seek to constitute and serve.
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We use the acronym LGQ throughout this article to reflect the fact that the identity labels used by the community organizations focused on here were, in the words of the groups we focused on, “lesbian,” “gay,” and “queer.” To expand the acronym to one of its more conventional forms (e.g., LGBTQ or LGBTQI+, for example) would be to fail to recognize the erasure of bisexual, trans, and intersex youth in policy and program responses—which was commonplace in the 1980s and 1990s in Australia. Expanded acronyms continue to erase categories—contemporary discomfort with the erasure caused by the historical use of LGQ underscores some of the problems of recognition we highlight in this article. At the same time, we recognize of course that the erasure of categories can have negative consequences in terms of health and well-being (see Davy, 2015; Flanders, LeBreton, & Robinson, 2019).
The term “identity politics” was coined by a group of black feminists called The Combahee River Collective (1983, p. 267) who argued that “that the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else's oppression.”
For a timeline of decriminalization in Australia, see: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-24/timeline:-australian-states-decriminalise-male-homosexuality/6719702.
The name Twenty Ten refers to the postcode of the Sydney suburb in which the service was located. The organization name has changed over time and its current form is Twenty10. Some cited sources refer to Twenty10 or 20/10. We have elected to use Twenty Ten in this text to reflect the name of the organization at the time of our case study.
By way of background, the Labor government of Peter Dowding in WA removed consenting male homosexual activity from the criminal code in December 1989. It passed into law in March 1990 under premier Carmen Lawrence. However, the change did not occur easily; there were four failed attempts at law reform in the state during the 1970s and 1980s.
Koorie (also spelt Koori) is a term used by contemporary Aboriginal people and communities of Victoria and Southern New South Wales to identify and differentiate themselves from Aboriginal groups from other parts of Australia. http://koorieheritagetrust.com.au/about-us/.
Law Reform (Decriminalization of Sodomy) Act 1989. This Act was repealed by the Acts Amendment (Lesbian and Gay Law Reform) Act 2002s. 86 (No. 3 of 2002) as at 21 Sep 2002 (see s. 2 and Gazette 20 Sep 2002 p. 4693).
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Acknowledgements
The research described in this article was undertaken as part of the Belonging and Sexual Citizenship Among Gender and Sexual Minority Youth (“Queer Generations”) research Project, funded under the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (Project DP150101292). The views expressed are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian government or the Australian Research Council. We express our gratitude to those who contributed to the Queer Generations research Project as study participants. The study was led by Peter Aggleton, Mary Lou Rasmussen, Rob Cover, and Daniel Marshall. We thank Christy Newman, Kyra Clarke, Jess Gilbert, Kirsty Herbert, Max Hopwood, and Benjamin Hegarty who also worked on the Project. Thanks also to the Associate Editor and reviewers: their feedback has certainly strengthened the article.
Funding
The Queer Generations project was funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP150101292).
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Rasmussen, M.L., Southerton, C., Fela, G. et al. Playing Recognition Politics: Queer Theoretical Reflections on Lesbian, Gay, and Queer Youth Social Policy in Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. Arch Sex Behav 49, 2341–2352 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01751-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01751-6