JS-92.2
New Practices, Old Debates : Ambivalence and Conflict in Identity Politics
In the current Spanish LGBT movement the tension between assimilation and radicalism has produced an 'official' LGBT activism (hosted by the FELGTB[1] ) and a 'critical' activism being LGBT Pride celebrations their main battlefield. The progressive incorporation of entrepreneurship - LGBT or not- to such celebrations, and the ambivalent position of public institutions deepen the split between these activist positions. Madrid will not hold the 2020 Olympics, but will hold the World Pride in 2017. Its candidacy was championed by AEGAL (LGBT business association) and the City Council with the support from the 'officialist' LGTB associations.
The importance of tourism as a source of income, identities as business, the spectacularization of the claims and the idea of consumption as the backbone of identities all mark the present and seem to mark the imaginable future of LGBT activism in our country. This ' gaypitalista' (Shangay Lily) Pride is presented as opposed to 'authentic' conceptions of vindication.
In this scenario, it is urgent to overcome old antagonisms and find new ways to represent and visualize vindications, new 'practices' that aspire to the articulation of the 'inevitable' (reification, commodification and exposure of identities) with the defense of rights and claims.
We aim to analyze the strategies for the present and the future in this field through content analysis of in-depth interviews with businessmen, politicians and activist leaders ('officialist' and critics) and various digital media (blogs, comments on news and websites).