Fractured Resistances: The Debate over Assimilationism among Gays and Lesbians in the United States

Abstract

This article analyzes the arguments of two of the central positions in the debate over assimilationism in the gay and lesbian community as a means of exploring the meaning of resistance, opposition, struggle, and agency within the context of a dominant and generative field of power. Instead of debating which position is better or most effective, or which involves “true resistance,” we use Foucault's formulations to suggest that each represents but one among a multiplicity of strategies, all existing simultaneously in a field of power. Because this field is composed of a plurality of dissonant, multi-layered, multidimensional relations of power, we argue that no single form of resistance can be identified and uniquely practiced. Instead, each struggle contributes its own partial modification to the overall transformation of the field of power, and simultaneously highlights the inconsistencies faced by agents who attempt to present a coherent identity in opposition to structures of domination.