it's always the gays
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Homonationalism is, as its name indicates, a form of nationalism that weaponises LGBTQ+ rights as a means of conveying and justifying imperialistic and xenophobic politics.
In the post-9/11 context, racialised bodies, particularly those associated with Islam or the Middle East, have been systematically targeted by surveillance policies in the United States. As queer people from these communities, we find ourselves confronted with a double otherness: our origins already place us in the category of potentially hostile ‘Others’, and our queerness, far from protecting us or ‘de-racialising’ us, adds another layer of marginalisation.
What is particularly disturbing is this strategy of selective integration. The American state has constructed a narrative that valorises homosexuals as respectable and assimilable into the national fabric while demonising other groups, particularly Muslims and people from countries considered enemies of the West. Within this framework, queer Desis individuals are caught up in a ‘double movement’ that Puar highlights: on the one hand, we are pushed to embrace American exceptionalism, to fit into the nationalist narrative by rejecting sexualities perceived as ‘perverse’ from the East. On the other hand, there is also a resistance, a refusal to assimilate, where some choose to claim this ‘sexual perversity’ attributed to the brown terrorist to challenge these essentialist discourses and affirm the complexity of our identities.
This phenomenon, which Puar describes as homonationalism, has deeply divided our communities. To survive or integrate, some of us agree to conform to the dominant norms, to align ourselves with an image of respectability that excludes parts of our identities that are deemed ‘uncomfortable’. Others, on the other hand, choose to resist, not deny, our origins and our intersections of identity, and this resistance creates tension within our circles. This division is even reflected in the relationship between LGBTQ+ organisations and Desis community associations, where we see distinct and sometimes incompatible initiatives. Puar mentions the example of the tensions between specific LGBTQ+ associations and the Sikh gurdwaras after 11 September.