Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1849351848 ISBN 13: 9781849351843

Publisher: AK Press, 2014

Synopsis

When "rights" go wrong.

• Does gay marriage support the right-wing goal of linking access to basic human rights like health care and economic security to an inherently conservative tradition?
• Will the ability of queers to fight in wars of imperialism help liberate and empower LGBT people around the world?
• Does hate-crime legislation affirm and strengthen historically anti-queer institutions like the police and prisons rather than dismantling them?

 The Against Equality collective asks some hard questions. These queer thinkers, writers, and artists are committed to undermining a stunted conception of "equality." In this powerful book, they challenge mainstream gay and lesbian struggles for inclusion in elitist and inhumane institutions. More than a critique, Against Equality seeks to reinvigorate the queer political imagination with fantastic possibility!
 "In an era when so much of the lesbian and gay movement seems to echo the rhetoric of the mainstream Establishment, the work of Against Equality is an important provocation and corrective.... I hope this book is read widely, particularly by the people who will most disagree with it; in the tradition of the great political pamphleteers, this collection should spark debate around some of the key issues for our movement." --Dennis Altman, author of Homosexual: Oppression & Liberation
 "Against Equality  issues a radical call for social transformation. Against and beyond the "holy trinity" of pragmatic gay politics--marriage, militarism, and prison--the queer and trans voices archived in this collection offer a radical left critique of neoliberalism, capitalism, and state oppression. In a format accessible and enlivening, equally at home in the classroom and on the street, this book keeps our political imaginations alive. Prepare to be challenged, educated, and inspired." --Margot Weiss, author of Techniques of Pleasure

About this title

From the Back Cover

"This exciting collection is a must read for those who are yearning for incisive critiques of biopolitical social normalization and domination. The essays are emboldening as they offer crucial rationales for resisting a range of assimilationist projects that hinge on state regulation of gender and sexuality in the service of specific racial and class formations linked to oppressive neoliberalism and capitalist models of belonging. With analyses that expose the symbolic and material stakes in "inclusion," the authors offer radical alternatives that have decolonizing potential, while offering renewed visions of queer liberation."  - J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, author Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity"In an era when so much of the lesbian and gay movement seems to echo the rhetoric of the mainstream Establishment, the work of Against Equality is an important provocation and corrective. There is much to argue about and disagree with in this collection, but it is also a collection that burns with a passionate belief in the original idea of Gay Liberation, namely that we cannot be truly free while others remain oppressed. I hope this book is read widely, particularly by the people who will most disagree with it; in the tradition of the great political pamphleteers this collection should spark debate around some of the key issues for our movement." -- Dennis Altman, author Homosexual: Oppression & Liberation

About the Author

Ryan Conrad is an artist, activist, and scholar from central Maine. He co-founded Against Equality with Yasmin Nair in 2009, and he is currently pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD in Sexuality Studies at Concordia University in Montréal.

About this edition

• Publisher: AK Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1849351848
• ISBN 13: 9781849351843
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 260
• Editor: Conrad Ryan