Abstract
This essay considers how rhetorics of expertise constitute social identity in the lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer/questioning (LGBTQ) rights movement. While members of the mainstream gay rights movement typically emphasize conventional political channels, participants in the “radical” gay rights movement prefer transgressive enactments of non-normative sexualities. Because the resulting arguments over strategy are simultaneously debates about what it means to be a queer citizen, I conclude that discourses of expertise also function as nodal points for group identity within queer counterpublics. Furthermore, I argue that a more conservative queer rhetoric of expertise places constraints on queer subjectivity that are deeply problematic for those navigating the already murky waters of sexual identity in America.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Johanna Hartelius and Jim Collier for their initiative and guidance in this project.