Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The idea of internal colonialism has been popular in both social science writings and political discourse. This paper attempts to provide a new way to think about this concept in the realm of sexual communities. Specifically, I engage the topic of racism in the queer community, arguing that white gays and lesbians are active participants in larger U.S. internal colonialism of people of color by their denial of race differences along sexual orientation lines and by their use of racist political rhetoric to further sexual rights for their group. The raced dimensions of queer theory and of mainstream gay and lesbian politics are linked to the idea of internal colonialism, making the argument that sexual communities aid the U.S. nationalist project of racism.