Homo(normative) legal discourses and the queer challenge

Abstract

Recent legal reform in English law has dramatically changed the legal status of the homosexual. Once a social and legal pariah, the contemporary queer finds themselves apparently benefiting from unprecedented legal rights. However, this article seeks to argue that these new-found rights - whether they be in the construction of the family, the workplace or in the operation of leisure - operate so as to enshrine in law a homosexual identity anchored in domesticity and Rubin’s conceptualisation of ‘good’ sex. This article seeks to explore the emergence of the new (homo)normative legal discourse and how two sexual phenomena - barebacking and public sex - continue to present socio-legal challenges to its operation.