Safe Cities and Queer Spaces: The Urban Politics of Radical LGBT Activism

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) visibility is at a high. Gay marriage is a reality. Gay urban enclaves are threatened by their own success, historic icons of the movement subsumed by urban development. Yet violence and homelessness continue, and socioeconomic disparities are reinforced in LGBT communities, particularly among women, people of color, young and old, and gender-nonconforming. Overlapping identities and systems of oppression exacerbate the marginalization of LGBT-identified people, creating “unjust geographies” that intertwine race, class, gender, and sexuality. These queer struggles play out in gay centers and in urban areas far from those. How might researchers understand the complex and intersectional nature of queer marginalization in urban space today, situated within multiple modes of social and spatial oppression? How might those involved in the envisioning and making of cities contribute to the social movements still fighting for change and justice? Building on theories ...