Reading Cold War Queer Literature Today: Recognition Beyond LGBTQ Identity Politics

Abstract

The Cold War witnessed the worldwide emergence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) minority communities. Activists struggled for the political, social and cultural recognition of sexual and gender difference as a mode of group identification rather than as criminal behaviour or psychological deviance. As LGBTQ existence was perceived increasingly as a ‘lifestyle’ linked to market niches, this once-radical minority paradigm became a neo-liberal export of the United States, where it originated. LGBTQ-identified authors often strove to humanise queer persons by promoting their social recognition, although their reparative efforts also often emphasised individual personhood over group identification. Cold War queer literature thus cultivated new perceptions of queer existence beyond the limits of LGBTQ identity politics, perceptions with continuing value for readers today.