Same
or different - Homosexuals Interfere
Abstracts (english)
Elisabeth
Holzleithner: The Queer Debate, FJ NSB 4/00, pp. 14-23
„Queer“
traditionally an insult has become a central term in the battle
against heterocentrism and homophobia in recent years. Queer
challenges the heterosexual norms and allows multiple
preliminary gender roles. The concept of norm and deviance is
rejected, instead queer theory and queer policy points out how
preliminary and frail conceptions of homogenity are. This
results in an emphisis of difference and the negotiation and
politicization of identities. Elisabeth Holzleithner focuses on
three critical questions: Does the rejection of any kind of
identity lead to political immobility? Is the promise of
inclusion a realistic one? Is the postmodern emphasis on
multiple difference the end of a critical feminist theory, which
focuses on the connection between cultural difference and social
inequality?
Volker
Beck: Approaching Normality. Success and Problems in Gay and
Lesbian Advocacy, FJ NSB 4/00, p.
24-29
Reviewing
gay and lesbian advocacy Beck comes to a rather positive
conclusion. The variety of political demands corresponds to the
inhomogeneous community but the initiative for an acceptance and
legal status for homosexual couples is a central one and is
perceived favourably in public. Especially the national
association for gay and lesbian people (Lesben- und
Schwulenverband, LSVD) gained public acceptance with its public
relations work. Though the organisational field remains
fragmented the radical minority has grown into a self confident
mass movement. They demand their recognition as a social
minority with equivilant rights and full participation in
society.
Jens
M. Scherpe: The Juridical Status of Homosexual Partnerships. An
Overview, FJ NSB 4/00, pp. 30-39
In
an international comparison Jens M. Scherpe identifies three
versions for the regulation of homosexual couples: the opening
of marriage for homosexuals, the connection of juridical
consequences to the fact of joint living, and a status in its
own right. The opening of marriage for homosexual couples in
Germany would require a change in the constitution. Regulations
for living together seem problematic not only in respect of
certainty of law. Therefore the author prefers a status in its
own right, which allows homosexual couples on a similar niveau
of commitment like marriage, but possibly also other statuses
which have less binding force. These could be open for
homosexual as well as heterosexual couples.
Stefan
Stürmer/Bernd Simon: Mobilising Gay. Motivation for
Participation in the German Gay Movement, FJ NSB, 4/00, p.
40-51
Stefan
Stürmer and Bernd Simon take a social psychological approach to
look at the motivation of gay to participate in the gay movement.
Their „two path model“ integrates two main approaches of
social psychological movement theory: the calculation of costs
and gains, and collective identity processes. On the basis of
three studies the authors test their model. They try to predict
the actual behaviour and measure the importance of identities as
gay activists. Their results show the influence of both
approaches but the collective identity is of major importance.
Jochen
Kleres: Equivilant Rights in Socialism. The Gay and Lesbian
Movement in the GDR, FJ NSB 4/00, p. 52-63
Based
on expert interviews and an extensive literature review Jochen
Kleres describes the historical development and peculiarities of
the gay and lesbian movement under a repressive socialist regime.
The roots go back to the seventies but it was not before the
beginning of the eighties until the movement stabilised. Parts
were protected by the church while other secular groups were at
least formally associated to state controlled organisations.
Though resources, opportunities and political agendas of these
groups differed, their common goal was to abolish discrimination
and thereby improve the socialist society.
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