Sexual Identities and Political Engagements: A Queer Survey

This project asks if the theoretical contributions of queer theory accurately characterize sexual identity and politics in "mainstream" lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer (LGBTQ) communities. Responses to a mail survey distributed in San Diego, California, and Albany, New York, indicate that self-identified queers are politically and sexually more radical than their nonqueer counterparts, supporting the contentions of queer theorists. Nonetheless, self-identified queers also support "traditional" movement goals, such as marriage, military service, and litigating for social change. In conclusion, we suggest that "queer" may complicate conceptions of political strategy as well as sexual and political identity.