Sexual Citizenship in Private and Public Space: Parents of Gay Men and Lesbians Discuss Their Experiences of Pride Parades

Abstract

This article explores how the boundaries of lesbian and gay citizenship are set by parents in relation to the public/private dimensions of space. We analysed 46 in-depth interviews carried out in Italy in the period 2006–2008 with mothers and fathers who described themselves as accepting their sons’ and daughters’ gay and lesbian identity.

We show that parents tend to fight for rights confined to the private dimension whereas both the public dimension and the dividing lines between public and private represent problematic areas. Parents do not expect having to deal with the issue of sexual orientation in the public sphere, implicitly supporting its characterisation as a heteronormative space. Pride parades are a case in point. As emerged in the interviews, most of the parents do not see their participation in parades as undermining the heteronormative family model, but rather as a way of legitimising it. Through the mediation of heterosexual parents, there is a process of familisation of citizenship rights for gay and lesbian people, which is reinforced by parents who belong to parents of gay and lesbian associations. Though discourses on normalisation prevail, the Pride parade is a setting of potential tensions allowing debate on sexual citizenship to enter the public arena.

KEYWORDS:

• gay men and lesbians
• parents
• Italy
• Pride parade
• sexual citizenship

Acknowledgments

The study reported in this article is the result of a broader research project titled “Family Matters: Supporting Families to Prevent Violence Against Young Gay Men and Lesbians,” funded by the European Commission through the international Daphne programme and coordinated by the University of East Piedmont; AGEDO was one of its partners.