Queer Homes, Queer Families: a history and policy debate at the British Library Conference Centre Wi
Queer Homes, Queer Families: a history and policy debate at the British Library Conference Centre With Peter Tatchell; Professor Jeffrey Weeks, OBE; Dr Kath Holden; Professor Sasha Roseneil; Professor Alison Oram; and Dr Matt Cook.Monday 17th December 2012, 6.30 – 8.00pm The last decade has seen incredible changes in attitudes towards lesbians and gay men and their relationship to home and family. From legislation on adoption, civil partnerships and access to fertility treatments to representations on sitcoms like ‘Modern Family’ and home make-over shows, there has been a marked domestication of queer men and women. If Clause 28 famously saw all this as a pretence, these home lives are now, arguably, being taken seriously. In this panel discussion we ask what precedents there are for apparently unconventional home and family formations; how far recent shifts reflect broader changes in expectations and experiences of home and family; what they might portend in terms of assimilation, radicalism and difference; and why history might matter in all this. Homo: and in a related story, the Vatican asks, if the gays can marry, why not polyandry? Finally, they might be getting it. Seriously, we hope the discussion at the British Library touches on a more nuanced and realistic view of family that includes elective and extended “families”. Of course, governments have no interest in promoting these radical associations, since they prefer the “mom and pop micro-baby factory” for many reasons, not the least of which is social control, but a conversation about this is important. HOMO MAGAZINE: FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER -- source link
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