Defining Homosexuality: News Coverage of the `Repeal the Ban' Controversy

Meyers, Marian

doi:10.1177/0957926594005003004

Cited by 30 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In this article we have outlined some of the ways in which civil partnership was Examining newspaper coverage of civil partnership in the UK tells us something about how civil partnership has been socially constructed and how the media was a major site of cultural contestation over its meaning (Meyers, 1994). By analysing the conflicting ways in which the media constructed civil partnership at the time that they first took place we can see how people may come to quite different conclusions about its nature and meaning (as in the case of Wilkinson v. Kitzinger).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Seismic Cultural Change?”: British media representations of same-sex ‘marriage’

Jowett

Peel

2010

Women's Studies International Forum

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A major site for the contestation over meaning in society is the media (Meyers, 1994) and so examining media coverage of civil partnership can tell us something about how it is socially constructed outside of scholarly debates and court cases as well as how same-sex relationships are represented within the media.…”

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confidence: 99%

“Seismic Cultural Change?”: British media representations of same-sex ‘marriage’

Jowett

Peel

2010

Women's Studies International Forum

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“…Though critics of DADT have offered a variety of explanations for the policy's existence (Belkin and Bateman 2003;Frank 2009;Halley 1999;Meyers 1994), policy makers give us two sets of very clear reasons for the law. The first of these reasons centers on privacy:…”

Section: The Privacy Double Standardmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…For a more detailed summary of the history of the law and its passage, seeFrank (2009), Halley (1999,Herek (1993),Meyers (1994), andShawver (1995). For a detailed history of homosexuals and homosexuality in the military prior to DADT, seeBérubé (1990) andShilts (1993).…”

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confidence: 99%

Secret Handshakes and Decoder Rings: The Queer Space of Don't Ask/Don't Tell

Trivette

2010

Sex Res Soc Policy

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Don't Ask/Don't Tell (DADT) prohibits gays and lesbians from openly serving in the US military on the basis that out gays and lesbians will decrease the military's ability to function by harming the military's strong levels of camaraderie and cohesion within its ranks. Based on interviews with gay and lesbian military veterans, I find that DADT is a site of multiple paradoxes around both gay identity and the military as a whole. Rather than protect or strengthen the camaraderie and cohesion in the military, these bonds that connect members of the military are weakened by requiring gay and lesbian personnel to hide part of themselves from fellow soldiers. Further, in prohibiting gay identities from being openly expressed, DADT actually creates a queer space in which military gays and lesbians interact with one another and create their own form of military gay identity.Keywords Don't ask, don't tell . Military . Gay identity . Queer theory . Queer space Under the US military's Don't Ask/Don't Tell (DADT) law, 1 gays and lesbians are allowed to serve on the condition that their sexual orientation remains private; in other words, when it comes to a person's homosexuality, the military won't ask, the service member shouldn't tell, and no one is ever supposed to find out. DADT mandates this exclusion of apparent homosexuality on the basis of protecting military functionality. This mandate of privacy (which really is a mandate of secrecy, as the issue is not so much about homosexuality as about the management of information around homosexuality) is justified as a matter of public concern and can be thought of as a furtherance of the military as a total institution (Goffman 1961); however, the effect of the law works in opposition to its intent. Rather than enhancing military performance and protecting the military's strong levels of camaraderie and cohesion, the mandated silence of gay and lesbian identity under DADT instead weakens these very connections. Drawing on interviews with gay and lesbian military veterans, I will show the double binds that this privacy-secrecy mandate creates for gay and lesbian personnel and the ways in which it actually harms military cohesion. Further, I argue that while DADT expects gay people to stay silent about their sexuality, it also disrupts the total institutional aspect of the military by creating what I will call a "queer space" in which allegedly hidden gay identities are created and expressed, and this mandated silence is rarely kept. This queer space is a disruption to the supposed uniform identity production at the heart of the military as total institution process and is instead a space in which a supposedly not allowed gay military identity can be articulated. At its core, this is a story of the ways in which DADT is played out through social interaction.I will begin with a review of my methodology and a very brief overview of the content (and context) of the DADT law. I will then explore the interrelated themes of privacysecrecy and camaraderie and the contradictory and pa...

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“…As others (e.g. Meyers, 1994) have suggested, by examining the discourses used by parliamentarians and by the public with regard to lesbian and gay issues, it may be possible better to develop strategies for the advancement of civil and human rights for lesbians and gay men.…”

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confidence: 99%

Denying equality: an analysis of arguments against lowering the age of consent for sex between men

Ellis

Kitzinger

2002

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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This paper takes a human rights approach to lesbian and gay oppression and critically explores the arguments used to oppose equality in debates about the age of consent for sex between men. A thematic analysis of Hansard and newspaper reports produced in Britain during the 1990s showed that opponents of a proposal to equalize the age of consent countered with three key arguments: (1) principles of right and wrong take precedence over equality; (2) principles of democracy take precedence over equality; (3) principles of care and protection take precedence over equality. Two additional arguments (concerning the health risks of anal intercourse and escalating demands for gay rights) are also outlined. Our findings are discussed with reference to debates on other lesbian and gay rights issues and we consider the ways in which these arguments might best be resisted. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Defining Homosexuality: News Coverage of the `Repeal the Ban' Controversy

Cited by 30 publications

References 9 publications

“Seismic Cultural Change?”: British media representations of same-sex ‘marriage’

“Seismic Cultural Change?”: British media representations of same-sex ‘marriage’

Secret Handshakes and Decoder Rings: The Queer Space of Don't Ask/Don't Tell

Denying equality: an analysis of arguments against lowering the age of consent for sex between men

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