Seeking Queer Alliances: Resisting Dominant Discourses and Institutions

As the political climate in many parts of the world turns increasingly conservative, we are asking whether a concept such as global homophobia may be a useful analytical and/or political tool, and-as a correlate question-whether queer concepts travel well across political borders and geo-cultural spaces.<br> <br> Do dominant discourses that include neo-liberalism as well as fundamentalisms of all kinds, and dominant institutions spanning the state as well as churches, require distinct forms of counterpractice? How to reclaim discourse appropriated by the dominant institutions? What are and what could such practices of resistance be? To what extent may our experiences of LGBTQ subjugation and LGBTQ resistance be shared and also used to mutual advantage? Who may our dialogue partners be for such sharing? What alliances have been formed, and in which locations, for purposes of political activism and for achieving particular strategic aims? What is the place of feminist concepts in queer theory?<br> <br> How is queer theory reflected in political activism, and how have particular theoretical concepts been adopted for political practice in different cultural contexts? How do activists serve as theorists, how do theorists serve as political practitioners, and how does the relationship between those functions manifest itself across contexts? What is the role of mutual respect and self-respect in the forming of queer/LGBTQ alliances across cultural spaces? What are some internal and external obstacles to communication among queers occupying different social and geographical spaces? What role does the category of gender play in those different places? And what are the factors of cohesion from one alliance to another?<br> <br>