Getting on? Doing sexuality then and now

Abstract

Twenty years ago, I had barely started my undergraduate degree at The University of Edinburgh; this was before UK Universities competed for Stonewall recognition as the most 'Gay Friendly' institutions, a somewhat awkward recognition, at least initially revolving around proximity to commercialised scene spaces, rewarding elite institutions for 'doing diversity' (without necessarily being diverse) (Ahmed, 2006, 2012; Taylor, 2013; Falconer and Taylor, 2016). But the story of getting out, getting to a 'big city', to 'come out' resonated then (Weston, 1995), as it likely does now, even as these stories are questioned, in their reproduction of specific mobile raced-classedgendered sexual-subjects. A sense of having arrived in place, with or without Stonewall Diversity Champions to mentor and guide us (see: http://www.stonewall.org.uk/diversity-champions-programme), continues to be celebrated-as well as rendered insecure in the face of continued discrimination and inequality experienced, differently, by LGBTQ groups and individuals.

‘There’s nowhere wonky left to go’: Gentrification, queerness and class politics of inclusion in (East) London

“…Interestingly, class is omitted as one of designated forms of difference against which the venue must not discriminate,2 raising questions about the agreement's ability 'to reconcile profound socio-economic injustice within a frame of recognition' (Taylor, 2018(Taylor, , p. 1380. Moreover, given the nature of the pub the agreement was supposedly intended to protecta working-class pub with a 'haggard' rainbow flag that was not understood by its patrons as 'LGBT' in any simple termsit is unsurprising that the campaigners, including myself, were taken aback by the terms and conditions of this promise.…”

The UK government LGBT Action Plan: Discourses of progress, enduring stasis, and LGBTQI+ lives ‘getting better’

“…Indeed, the issues surrounding both legal gender recognition and supporting trans youth are evocative of previous tensions and debates (Morgan and Taylor, 2019), such as those witnessed during Section 28/2A and subsequent campaigns to ‘Keep The Clause’ (Taylor, 2005a, 2005b), also now recirculating as in the case of significant protests against the LGBTQI+-affirmative ‘No Outsiders’ programme delivered in Birmingham schools. Calling into question linear conceptions of progress of inevitably and uniformly ‘getting better’, these tensions cyclically re-emerge to demonstrate the “enduringly controversial nature of sexualities and gender intersectional issues” (Taylor, 2018: 1380).…”