In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Epilogue Post-Queer? By concluding with Sara h Schulman , AC T UP, and queer s i n the street , I have com e ful l circle , sinc e m y firs t chapte r conclude d wit h Audr e Lord e and the resistant identitie s sh e observed being shaped and reshaped in th e streets a decade earlier: "My lasting image of that spring .. . was of women whom I knew . . . and women whose names were unknown t o me, leading a march through the streets of Boston behind a broad banner stitched with a lin e fro m Barbar a Deming : 'W E CANNO T LIV E WITHOU T OU R LIVES ' " (Lorde, Need, 3). The connectio n i s perhaps mor e tha n coincidental , sinc e Schulman studie d unde r Lord e a t Hunte r Colleg e i n th e earl y 1980s . Schulman writes , "Sh e told us, That yo u can' t figh t Cit y Hall is a rumo r being circulate d b y Cit y Hall ' " (My American History, xvii) . A s fa r a s Lorde was concerned, powe r was not concentrate d o n high; women work ing togethe r a s friend s an d lover s coul d bot h rewrit e th e rumor s bein g circulated about their powerlessness and effect a new world. The Lorde-Schulma n connectio n i s appropriate , give n m y intentio n i n this project o f reading the Queer Renaissanc e in and through, rathe r tha n above, th e large r quee r socia l contex t o f th e period . Th e classroo m here , notably, facilitate s suc h a reading: it provides neither a pure origi n no r a n ultimate en d fo r th e identitie s I have explore d i n thi s study . Instead , th e classroom, fo r both Lord e and Schulman, i s a location contiguous to othe r locations; bot h wome n ar e simultaneousl y comin g fro m an d goin g t o someplace else. Schulman does not simply learn how to be queer when sh e gets t o Hunte r Colleg e an d read s abou t i t i n a book, bu t neithe r d o he r books (o r Lorde's , o r thos e rea d i n Lorde' s classroom ) simpl y "reflect " queer identitie s shape d elsewhere . The renaissance o f quee r creativ e wor k and th e renaissanc e o f quee r identitie s an d politica l analyse s hav e bee n mutually constitutive. Each represents and fuels th e other. In th e pas t fe w years , however , som e ga y writer s hav e appeare d wh o want queer s t o stop this flurr y o f reproductive activity . In thi s epilogue , I 205 consider briefl y whethe r th e emergenc e o f writer s suc h a s Bruc e Bawe r and Andre w Sulliva n mark s th e beginnin g o f a "post-queer " moment . Bawer, Sullivan, and others have gained a great deal of attention by calling for suc h a moment : thei r emphasi s i s o n individualit y an d a n abstrac t individual freedo m rathe r tha n o n relational , flui d identities ; the y stres s not a critique o f but a n accommodation an d assimilatio n t o contemporar y society an d it s institutions . I f th e Quee r Renaissanc e construct s collectiv e identities inten t o n disruptin g dominan t hierarchica l understanding s o f sex, gender, sexuality , race , and class, does the emergenc e o f neoconserva tive gay writers committed to the status quo or gay scientists who want t o ground homosexualit y i n biolog y mar k a wanin g o f th e Quee r Renais sance ? Bawer, fo r one , has virtually sounde d th e deat h knel l fo r "queerness" : "Today, reasonable gay voices are beginning to be heard in the media. [My writing] i s bot h a caus e o f thi s phenomeno n an d a sympto m o f it . Als o...

Share