At What Price the Media Spotlight: Analyzing media certification of the mainstream gay movement during the 1980s and 1990s

• Authors: Julie Land

Title variants

Niniejszy esej jest spojrzeniem na ruch LGBT/Queer w Stanach Zjednoczonych w okresie późnych lat 80. I wczesnych lat 90. W tym czasie, w szczytowym okresie aktywizmu skupionego wokół problemu AIDS, rozpoczęło się szereg procesów, które w dalszym ciągu wywierają wpływ na ruchy LGBT i Queer w USA. Analizując sposób prezentowania działań organizacji ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) w opiniotwórczym dzienniku New York Times można zauważyć proces, w wyniku którego media usankcjonowały pewien rodzaj aktywizmu (głównie lobbing i sprawy sądowe) jako „dojrzały” i „skuteczny”, a działania bezpośrednie (protesty uliczne, akcje zorientowane na zwiększenie „widzialności”) jako „dziecinne”. Jednocześnie bardziej konserwatywne odłamy ruchu gejowsko-lesbijskiego zaczęły odcinać się od bardziej radykalnych grup, takich jak ACT UP i Queer Nation, mimo że to właśnie te grupy tchnęły nowe życie w ruch LGBT podczas kryzysu związanego z AIDS. Twierdzę, że od tamtego czasu można obserwować rozwój dwóch rozbieżnych ruchów w USA (chociaż często uważa się je za jeden ruch): ruch gejowski i ruch queer.

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

The essay looks at the LGBT/Queer movement in the United States during the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, when AIDS activism was at its peak, began a number of processes, which continue to have an effect on the LGBT and Queer movements in the USA. Through an analysis of the New York Times' coverage of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), one can observe the process through which media certified a certain type of activism (mainly lobbying, court cases) as 'grown up' and 'effective', and direct action (protests, visibility actions, etc.) as 'childish'. At the same time, the more conservative strands of the gay/lesbian movement began to eschew more radical groups like ACT UP and Queer Nation, even though it was these groups that breathed new life into the movement during the AIDS crisis. I argue that, since this time, one can see the development of two distinct movements in the US (though they are often thought of as one): the gay movement and the Queer movement.

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warszawski. Ośrodek Studiów Amerykańskich
• Journal: InterAlia: Pismo poświęcone studiom queer
• Year: 2007
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 3

Dates

issued

2007

Contributors

author

Julie Land

• Jagiellonian University

translator

Inga Gorgon

References

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