This chapter brgs together postlonial and queer ncerns to dismantle the gay–straight bary as is produced tnal ntexts. The thor begs by showg that oftentim stutnalized spac and practic of queer activism wh...
Contents:
ABOUT GAYSIAN THIRD SPACE
On Friday September 16, Castro muny gatherg space and art pop-up Third Space opened at the former gay bathhoe/sex club Eros (2051 Market St. at Church). * third space gay *
On Friday September 16, Castro muny gatherg space and art pop-up Third Space opened at the former gay bathhoe/sex club Eros (2051 Market St. “The Foundg Fairi” which, clud Tony Arnoldo, Kim, Chris, Pascual, Jamie, and Adriana set out to create somethg gay – like gay gay – like REALLY gay, and baby…that they did. In this chapter, I seek to explite the productn, operatn, and nttatn of knowledg of difference based on sexual sir wh school ntexts, and emphasize the productivy of postlonial theorizatns of “third space” and “limaly” (Bhabha 1990, 1994) dismantlg the gay–straight recent s, we observe a rise the tablishment of formal and rmal spac and activi for supportg lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (LGBTQ) stunts schools.
The Gay–Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs and cyclil advocy events, such as Natnal Day of Silence, Comg Out Day, and so on, are some such exampl. However, I argue that the spac and activi n be read as stutnalized queer activism that stead of distortg the gay–straight bary, paradoxilly, re-articulate . I show that Larry’s performance exceed that which we image as appropriate homosexualy and, therefore, threatened the sexual bary; his performance beme unregnizable, thereby habg Bhabha’s (1990) third space.
It not only volv fg an acceptable social inty and an opposg other—man/woman, masculy/femy, heterosexualy/homosexualy—but also volv unequal relatns of power. For stance, the female occupi not only an opposnal stance to the male but also an ferr stat; the heterosexual is nsted as not only not-homosexual but also superr. The opposnal posns of women, femy, and homosexualy have historilly subsumed a range of social inti wh them, servg to homogenize “the other.
* third space gay *
The subject posns of woman, femy, and homosexualy form the “domant other”; they occupy a margal posn vis-à-vis the accepted social inty but a domant posn vis-à-vis the margal inti and subjectivi that they make visible—such as hermaphrod, male psdohermaphrod, female psdohermaphrod, bisexual, transsexual, tosexual, and genr nonnformg, among others. Said differently, whout the homosexual, the heterosexual nnot reta s primacy, but even before the namg of the bisexual the homosexual retas some herence. Or, when we are unable to place someone wh the bary of gay–straight?
More broadly, we n read the stutnalizatn of queer activism schools as an element of a wir “discursive storyle” (Davi 1989) or knowledge regime through which the subject posn of gay and straight are elaborated. GSA clubs and cyclil advocy mpaigns do precisely that; they brg to effect the bary of straight-gay by allotg particular s, tim, days, and activi where this bary n be habed.
Individuals enterg the GSA are subjectivated (Butler 1997) as “gays, ” “straight alli, ” or “qutng.