Queer encounters: Navigating 'gay-friendly' neighbourhoods with (and against) cultural maps of homophobia

Spruce, Emma (2022) Queer encounters: Navigating 'gay-friendly' neighbourhoods with (and against) cultural maps of homophobia. SEXUALITIES, 27 (3). pp. 385-403.

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Abstract

<jats:p> This article provides an intersectional analysis of LGBTQ definitions, experiences and perceptions of the ‘gay-friendly’ neighbourhood. It draws on interviews with a diverse group of LGBTQ people living in the London neighbourhood of Brixton to provide a situated interrogation of the ways that evaluations of place-based ‘gay-un/friendliness’ are made. The article argues that LGBTQ people’s experiences of local places are frequently framed through cultural maps, which sustain and connect racialized and classed spatializations of sexual progress across multiple scales. Despite this tendency, however, other accounts – in particular those of long-term residents and queers of colour – provide contradictory evaluations of Brixton’s ‘gay-friendliness’. These trouble dominant assumptions about the conditions needed for LGBTQ flourishing and thereby suggest an expanded horizon for urban sexual politics. Examining the paradox of Brixton’s designation as ‘gay-unfriendly’ even as it is a vibrant site of LGBTQ life, the article demonstrates the importance of an intersectional approach that attends to variations and specificities in the relationship between sexual politics, local places and LGBTQ experiences. </jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	gay-friendly, LGBTQ, intersectionality, neighbourhood, QTPOC
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	16 Mar 2022 16:39
Last Modified:	11 Mar 2024 18:42
DOI:	10.1177/13634607221091451
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3150948