homonormativity

English

Etymology

homonormative +‎ -ity

Noun

homonormativity (countable and uncountable, plural homonormativities)

1. (LGBT) The assumption that sexual and romantic attraction and activity between people of the same sex is normal, either as the only normal, or in a culture which also treats opposite-sex activity as normal (and typically assumes all people are either male or female).
   • 2009, Environment and Planning, page 755:

     Homonormativity is largely a product of tolerance and, as Brown tells us, tolerance, among other things, exists in the social realm to cover over inequitable particularities in the legal sphere.

   • 2009, Anne Bottomley, Simone Wong, Changing Contours of Domestic Life, Family and Law: Caring and Sharing, →ISBN:

     Duggan is careful to acknowledge that her identification of homonormativity does not create a category that parallels and reflects heteronormativity, as there are no gay structures parallel to those supporting and sustaining heterosexuality; [...]

   • 2017, Elizabeth Ellcessor, Bill Kirkpatrick, Disability Media Studies, →ISBN:

     The Swedish gay date film Patrik 1,5 (2008) would be, arguably, a comparable example of such a homonormative filmic representation. Made in an era of homonormativity, however, but not (my contention will be) necessarily made of the era of homonormativity, Any Day Now should not be so easily dismissed or contained.

2. (LGBT) The adoption of heterosexist values, beliefs and norms into the gay or queer community.
   • 2009, Rachel Epstein, Who's Your Daddy?: And Other Writings on Queer Parenting, page 255:

     I'm an activist, but in Kelowna I felt like my safety is predicated on silence and white middle-class homonormativity.

   • 2012, Dr Gavin Brown, Dr Jason Lim, Professor Kath Browne, Geographies of Sexualities: Theory, Practices and Politics, →ISBN, page 58:

     Indeed, queer thinkers have pointed out how heteronormativity and homonormativity are belied by the diversity of desires and relationships that already characterise many people's lives, and that transcend the ideological identities and proprieties that heteronormative and homonormative institutions attempt to enforce.

   • 2014, Julia M. O'Brien, Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies, →ISBN, page 324:

     Homonormativity results in reiterating the gender roles that anchor heteronormativity to power (even though the connections to bodies may seem to be more lax) and regularly punishes "those who fail to do their gender right" (Butler, 1990, p. 140)

   • 2016, Abbie E. Goldberg, The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies, →ISBN, page 542:

     Homonormativity is antiqueer in the ways that it reifies heteronormativity, and it is further understood as providing cultrual norms for the right way to be gay and lesbian. In this capacity, homonormativity perpetuates gender, sexuality, and racial stereotypes for gays and lesbians.

Related terms

• homonormative

See also

• heteronormative, heteronormativity
• binormative, binormativity
• cisnormative, cisnormativity
• transnormative, transnormativity

References

• James A. Roffee, Andrea Waling (2016 August 18) “Resolving ethical challenges when researching with minority and vulnerable populations: LGBTIQ victims of violence, harassment and bullying”, in Research Ethics‎^[1], volume 13, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 4–22