The Dilemmas of Diversity in Sexuality Movements

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer activism both values and promotes diversity as a way to gain recognition and rights for marginalized individuals and lifestyles. The expansion of LGBTQ+ rights in the liberal democracies of Europe and the Americas since 2000 has made sexuality movements a high-profile exemplar of successful diversity politics. Despite this success, diversity within most sexuality movements has had to be constantly renegotiated to address disputes about who is to be represented and what type of reform—radical or assimilationist—should be pursued. Because these diversity dilemmas are difficult to resolve, LGBTQ+ movements often have vacillated between what scholars such as Ghaziani, Taylor, and Stone have described as “cycles of sameness and difference.” Current movement disputes over gender identity and transgender rights reflect these diversity dilemmas of the past. As illustrated by the recent contentious debate in Scotland over the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, however, increasing levels of political polarization have changed the nature and potentially the significance of these diversity dilemmas within sexuality movements.