Respectably Queer: Diversity Culture in Lgbt Activist Organizations

by Jane Ward

For three years the author did participant-observation at three nationally prominent queer organizations in Los Angeles-Christopher Street West, which produces L.A.'s queer pride festival; the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, a 37-year-old multi-site organization; and Bienestar, an HIV services organization for gay Latinos. Ward documents the evolution of these organizations, including class and race conflicts within them, but she especially focuses on the misuses of diversity culture.Respectably Queer reveals how neoliberal ideas about difference are becoming embedded in the daily life of a progressive movement and producing frequent conflicts over the meaning of diversity. The author shows how queer activists are learning from the corporate model to leverage their differences to compete with other non-profit groups, enhance their public reputation or moral standing, and establish their diversity-related expertise. Ward argues that this instrumentalization of diversity has increased the demand for predictable and easily measurable forms of difference, a trend at odds with queer resistance.

Ward traces the standoff between the respectable world of diversity awareness and the often vulgar, sexualized, and historically unprofessional world of queer pride festivals. She spotlights dissenting voices in a queer organization where diversity has become synonymous with tedious and superficial workplace training. And she shows how activists fight back when prevailing diversity discourses-the ones that diverse people are compelled to use in order to receive funding-simply don't fit.

Genres: Queer

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Jane Ward is Associate Professor of Women's Studies at the University of California, Riverside. She is the author of Respectably Queer (2008).

Reviews

[S.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75/5 stars. I'm not quite sure how I feel about all of the ideas presented in the book, and there is one point I have mixed feelings about. However, Ward's talk about the commodification of diversity by corporations and NGOs make it a must read (especially for white people) working in corporate America or an NGO.

[Michael Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly interesting and well-written, and a must-read for anyone left dissatisfied by the corporate nature of Pride in recent years.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book on queer intersectionality and mainstreaming in the early 2000s, based on studies she did. It probably helped that I read most of the books she quoted extensively.