Homonormativity

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Homonormativity can be described as the favoring of being a white cisgender male homosexual in the LGBTQ+ community. Homonormativity describes how certain facets of the queer community can spread norms, values, and manners that hurt and relegate people that are a part of the community, as well as those with whom the community ought to be working together . “Privileges that are  found in the Queer community include, but are not limited to, white privilege, capitalism, sexism, transmisogyny, and cissexism, which in turn leaves many minorities out of the movement towards sexual freedom and equality.”  Homonormativity creates biases that can seclude certain members of the LGBTQ+ community and create animosity towards minorities.

The expectations of members of the community limits and secludes those who are not conforming to the ideal specifications of being homosexual.  As Jayson Flores stated in USA Today, “Homonormativity dictates that the most worth in the LGBT community are those that come the closest to mimicking heteronormative standards.” With that said, homonormativity can single out individuals who exhibit characteristics that are looked down upon in a heteronormative standard, such as being a feminine male, transsexual, or a person of color. These standards do little to help alleviate the discrimination that is faced in the LGBTQ community. As the years go by, homosexuality is becoming more and more acceptable and with that comes the norms and expectations that create the standards which many are faced with and are being discriminated against and ridiculed. Generalizations can be assumed due to these stereotypes and by someone acting a different way or having an appearance that differs from the norms created by the generalizations which, in turn can lead to negativity and possible harm to an LGBTQ+ individual.

Theoretical history of homonormativity

The term homonormativity was coined by the NYU professor Lisa Duggan. The main argument of Duggan is that the homonormativity is “a politics that does not contest dominant heteronormativity assumptions and institutions but upholds and sustains them while promising the possibility of a demobilized gay culture anchored in domesticity and consumption.” Duggan draws her thoughts from the theory of heteronormativity, created by Michael Warner who popularized the term in 1991. Warner's work explains how society and its institutions are built for straight people. With the shifts in the LGBTQ+ movement in the 90s, coming from a political and revolutionary approach from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, it detached the political agenda and claimed a queer space in society. Instead, the academic literature created in the late 90s and early 2000s, especially the pieces of Association of Gay Writers (AGI) led by Andrew Sullivan, came with the intent of simply blending the gays and lesbians into this heteronormative society. Homonormative values regard certain populations of the LGBTQ+ community as worthier than others; white cisgender homosexuals with financial power. Homonormativity’s goal is to morph and blend the LGBTQ+ community within the heterosexual world, stripping the peculiarities and inherent diversity of that  community.

Causes of Homonormativity

The cause of homonormativity can stem from the way society views homosexuals and other members of the LGBTQ community.  Through the use of language, imagery, and behaviors that favor a heterosexual lifestyle, society creates a need to fit a standard of living based on being heterosexual. This process then creates a stigma when it comes to being homosexual. Men needing to be masculine, and women being feminine are some of the standards that limit those who don’t fit into those categories and limit the successes of those trying to stray away from that which society burdens them.

Homonormativity’s roots are born from the necessity that certain LGBTQ+ people have to mimic heterosexual behaviors and conventions in order to feel accepted by them. This idea has its origins through the notion that assimilation is the only way to gain acceptance in a world where heterosexuality is the norm. Prioritizing rights such as marriage, which is a heterosexual norm, over basic human rights of those who identify as transsexual, such as medical attention and access to public restrooms, can create a sense of homonormativity.  Marriage conventions creates the norm that all relationships should mimic and replicate the heterosexual marriage and family structure, based on monogamy, having children, and owning property. By making this the main issue of the LGBTQ+ community, people are essentially excluding relationships that are not the normative, such as polyamorous relationships. It pushes same sex marriages into a mainstream heteronormative society. The United States of America’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was instituted to stop homosexual people from being openly gay while serving in the military . Ridding this policy was a big step in establishing equality among members of the armed forces,  but the inclusion of trans individuals is not a top priority and thus the homonormative standards favor one member of the LGBTQ community over another. “Many queer individuals continue to face stigma and violence in the military because of their gender identity and sexuality.”

Homonormativity and Heteronormativity

Heteronormativity is a concept that pertains to belief that heterosexuality is the standard and more accepted form of sexual expression. Homonormativity and Heteronormativity create social structures that enable the conception of biases and standards that favor those who conform to the norms set forth by these standards. Assimilation of the heteronormative standards can include assuming gender-conforming manners and conforming to the norms of heterosexual roles in a relationship. Those who can accept and adapt to a heteronormative construct and adhere to gender roles often receive more privilege than those who are not capable of following such norms such as trans, non-binary people, and people of color. For example, a gay man with feminine behaviors can be seen as less gay due to the stereotypes of who one identifies with and who one is attracted to not lining up. Jayson Flores of USA Today explains, “For a long time, the members of the LGBT community were outsiders in mainstream society. Now there are some that have a chance to become insiders, but in order to get inside they have to conform to very specific norms, leaving the feminine and ‘unnatural ‘gays behind them.” These advantages stem from a social and political push to make being heterosexual the ideal standard by alienating the rights of the LGBTQ community. Heteronormative behaviors can include misgendering, which is the act of not referring to a person as the gender they identify with, being homophobic, or denying access to non-gendered bathrooms. The influences of these actions create the homonormative perspectives, as people feel the need to conform to the heteronormative structures that occur in society. By attempting to enter the mainstream Heteronormative society as a member of the LGBTQ population, one is abandoning traits that are not deemed as standard sexual characteristics, and those who do not do so are considered outsiders and are alienated.

Homonormativity and Capitalism 

Capitalism takes a big role in the normalization of homosexuality in the form of advertisements. Companies take advantage the LGBTQ movement by capitalizing on   the movement as a platform to advertise their products, a market known as pink money. Companies profit from the use of queer symbols such as rainbow flags in their advertising  and using pride month as an opportunity to sell products to the LGBTQ community. Corporations use pride parades and festivals as an opportunity to create ad revenue by including floats, logos and other merchandise with an LGBTQ audience in mind, thus making those activities   more mainstream and helping boost their “gay friendly” appearance. The creation of costly pride events can single out members of the community who are not financially able to participate in such events or activities and creates the idea that one must spend money and contribute to capitalism in order to support the LGBTQ community. Marketing campaigns use opportunities such as “Coming out” to advertise products and capitalize off those who relate to the experience while singling out those who have not. In return, this creates pressure to commit to publicly expressing one’s sexuality for public gain. Although corporations use homosexuality as a platform, other members of the LGBTQ community, such as Transexuals, are left out of  these advertisements due to the social stigma attached to them and created by the homonormative standards.

Examples of homonormativity in daily life

Homonormativity creates a culture of discrimination, aggressions and micro-aggressions. Unlike the aggressions caused by heteronormative values, homonormativity propagates aggressions within the LGBTQ+ community, intersecting with racism, internalized homophobia, classism, misogyny, etc. Some examples of homonormative behaviors follow: .

• White LGBTQ individuals discriminating against against people of color, not willing to date or have sex with them based on their ethnicity.
• More masculine men discriminating against effeminate men and non-binary individuals, reinforcing the idea of gender stereotypes and performance.
• Feminine lesbian women rejecting other women who are “butcher” and present and perform more “masculine” traits.
• LGBTQ+ non-monogamic relationships being dismissed as real relationships because they do not adhere to monogamy and its subservience to capitalism interests.
• Policing of sexual behavior of LGBTQ+ individuals, when their  sexual behavior is seen as promiscuous and “risky.The concern expressed is usually not about the individual per se, but about how the heterosexual world will see that person as promiscuous and risk the possibility  of having a good reputation with heterosexuals .
• Not acknowledging the existence of bisexual or pansexual people.  Homonormativity creates the idea that bisexuals or pansexuals are seen as “undecided” or only romantically attracted to one gender, using the same gender as they identify as merely fun and not suitable for relationships.
• Denying transgender and transsexual people’s rights and having their acceptance related to their “passability” as certain gender.
• Social pressure within the LGBTQ community for blending in with the ‘heterosexual world,’ making individuals mimic  behaviors that are not natural to them just so they can assimilate and be accepted. Social status as an equivalent to worthiness. Homonormative values allow  upper class individuals to be accepted and seen as having worth, while poor LGBTQ people are still marginalized and targeted.
• Body shaming within the LGBTQ+ community toward non-normative bodies as depicted in  media. Not all gay men have a six pack, just as not all lesbian women have a fitness model body. This social pressure is even stronger for gay men, whose  worthiness is often linked to their body shape.
• Constant pressure to behave well in public so LGBTQ+ individuals are not perceived as inferior by heterosexual individuals.

Hollywood and Homonormativity

The Hollywood studio system is aligned with a neoliberal agenda and when it comes to the LGBTQ community, homonormativity depoliticizes the LGBTQ+ identity. Since Hollywood sees movies as only a product, it directs its products to people with consumption power, making stories about those  people and for those people in a very elitist way. The same logic is also valid for LGBTQ movies which are dominated by middle-class values. When showing only limited forms of sexual identities, mainstream cinema states that is the only normal way to be. Acceptance, in this view, can only come through blending and belonging to imposed norms. The problem in this situation is that from the five letters composing the LGBTQ community, only two  are represented, the gay and lesbian. The presence of bisexuals is almost null, and when it is, it is only to satisfy some stereotype of bisexuals as people ‘who still did not decide’ upon their sexuality. The erasure of transgender people is also alarming, being neglected until recently. The LGBTQ community is a plural spectrum, with a full range of diversity that intersects all classifications of how current society is based, thus more cross-racial, cross-class, and cross-gender connections are expected.

Examples of homonormative media

The amount of queer presence has been increasing in television since the late 90s, but this representation is far from a fair portrayal  of the diversity of the LGBTQ community. Some famous examples of TV shows are “Queer as Folk”, “Will and Grace”, “Modern Family”, “The New Normal”, “Looking”, “The L Word”, “Normal, Ohio”, “Oh, Grow Up” “Noah's Arc”, etc. All of those shows were remarkable by bringing openly gay characters to national TV, which is the first step to include the LGBTQ theme in mass media. However, all   failed on the same point: truly representing the LGBTQ community. Those shows depicted only a few elements of that plural community, mostly focusing on gay men, and sometimes on lesbian women. The problem  lies in supporting the ideological domination. LGBTQ programming will not break paradigms and expectations of what LGBTQ should be like. Most of the famous “gay shows” in America today reinforce a homonormative  policy; there is a predominance of white characters and most shows have little or no representation of non-white ethnics, as is the case with “Hunting Season” and “Will and Grace.” Another common thread among them  is the class aspect; gay people portrayed in these shows are always middle-class and wealthy , living within a consumption mindset and lifestyle, as seen in “The L Word” and “Queer as Folk.” Regarding gender, besides the minimal representation of lesbian women, also significant is the dearth of transgender characters in shows such as “Noah’s Arc” and “Normal, Ohio,” where transgender and transexual people are non-existent.  Also, the image of gay men in media is usually desexualized, portraying them as family-friendly and always looking for couple-hood and marriage, such as the characters in “Modern Family” and “The New Normal.” Collectively, these factors lead viewers to believe the image of an LGBTQ person should always be a white cisgender, middle-class, family-friendly, male or female homosexual.

Dismantling homonormativity through media

Thinking about movies as social acts makes it even more crucial to reject homonormative values. Subscribing to Henry Giroux's idea of public pedagogy, it is possible to find the unique opportunity given by the film medium to advocate LGBTQ rights and increase diversity in cinema. Education does not need to stop at the limits of the classroom or academic environment; it can, be incorporated in many aspects of social life and the arts. Regarding cinema and its potential to broaden people's horizons, Giroux states that "film as a form of civic engagement and public pedagogy creates a climate that helps to shape individual behavior and public attitudes in multiple ways, whether consciously or unconsciously." Relating the notion that films can transform individuals’ perspective by perpetuating any kind of 'normativity', homonormativity included, LGBTQ movies that do not push boundaries serve only as a way to normalize certain types of aesthetics and agents, working only in favor of the dominant class. By not contesting the norms, these movies and shows act as if they were asking permission to be, instead of only being. Some recent TV series and films have been  more engaged in dismantling homonormativity ideas, bringing new storylines and characters that reflect the diversity and liberation of the LGBTQ+ community. Shows such as "Transparent", "Pose", and "DTLA", bring new notions and break paradigms of behaviors for LGBTQ+ individuals marginalized within their own communities because of homonormative values.

Homonormativity

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