JPS315H1S L0101
LGBTQ Politics
Themes
This course explores the contemporary emergence of visible movements for sexual and gender minorities in Canada and the US. This first unit is an overview of identities, histories and approaches that shape lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) movements. The aim is to lay a historical and theoretical foundation for analysis that centers the experiences of those historically marginalized within the movement, as well as demonstrate the utility of intersectional analysis. The second part of the course addresses key institutions that interface with LGBTQ organizing, including the judiciary and the legislature. The third and final unit explores queer critiques of the contemporary North American movement. We discuss the LGBTQ movement’s investments in consumerism, critiques of same-sex marriage campaigns, and complicity in the continuation of settler colonial and imperial logics. Each unit contains a “keystone text” that contains vital concepts that will surely appear on examinations. By the end of the course, the students will be able to explain the political import of LGBTQ movements and politics and to discuss the relevance of queer theory to their everyday lives.
Texts
TBA
Format and Requirements
TBA
Prerequisites
SDS255H1/ SDS256H1/ UNI255H1/ UNI256H1/1.0 credit on the politics of 20th century Europe, U.S., or Canada/1.0 credit on gender or sexuality/permission of the instructor