The Rhetorics of Comparison and the Europeanisation of LGBTQ Politics

Venue: Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Period: 27 May 2016

‘Europeanisation’ has been a core perspective in debates on LGBTQ politics within the EU. In order to understand different modes of LGBTQ social movements’ political articulation within different regions and countries within the EU and the terms of their interactions with political actors outside of the EU, a focus on comparison may be instructive. Lately, informed by postcolonial critiques of the limitations of Western-centric theory, we have witnessed a comparative turn within fields as diverse as Urban Geography, Feminist Politics and Queer Studies. These contributions have mobilised postcolonial theoretical perspectives to critique the way that comparisons are drawn in transnational politics – what Carolyn Pedwell (2010) has termed ‘the rhetorics of comparison’. Yet this renewed interest in the politics of comparison has yet to be applied to the Europeanization of LGBTQ politics in a sustained manner. This workshop seeks to advance the conceptual significance of comparison by bringing together leading scholars working on LGBTQ politics in Europe to discuss how we can mobilise a comparative framework to expand our theoretical tool kit for understanding contemporary European LGBTQ politics.

09:30-09.45 Coffee and tea available

9.45-10:00 Introduction and welcome – Jon Binnie and Christian Klesse (Manchester Metropolitan University)

10:00-12:00 Session 1- Austerity, Welfare and Activism

Jon Binnie and Christian Klesse (Manchester Metropolitan University) ‘Comparative Queer Methodologies and Queer Cultural Activism in Europe’
Gracia Trujillo (University of Castilla-La Mancha) ‘LGBT Movements and Austerity Politics in Southern Europe: A Comparative Perspective’
Angelia Wilson (University of Manchester) ‘Everybody Act Normal!: Rhetorics of Heteronormativity Within Comparative European welfare’.

12:00-13:45 Lunch Break

13:45-15:45 Session 2 Migration and ‘Normality’

Carl Stychin (City University) ‘European Same-Sex Couples and the Politics of Free Movement in the EU: Comparing the Legal Landscape in Different EU Contexts’
Agnès Chetaille (L’Ecole des Haute Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris) ‘On the Road to ‘Normality’: the Imagined Geography of Homophobia in Polish Gay
and Lesbian Organizations' Discourse (1990-2010)’
Francesca Stella, Moya Flynn and Anna Gawlewicz (University of Glasgow) ‘A Normal Life’: Unpacking the Meanings of ‘Normality’ Among Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Eastern Europeans in Scotland’.

15:45 - 16.15 Discussion and Networking

16.15 – 16.30 Closure

The workshop is organised by Dr Jon Binnie (School of Science and Environment) and Dr Christian Klesse (Department of Sociology) and sponsored by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, RCASS (Research Centre for Applied Social Sciences) and the School of Science and Environment of MMU.

Attendance at the workshop is free of charge, but places are limited. If you wish to attend, please, contact Dr Jon Binnie (j.binnie@mmu.ac.uk) or Dr Christian Klesse (c.klesse@mmu.ac.uk) until Thursday 19th May (for us to arrange catering).