OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page i Out in Public Out in Public: Reinventing Lesbian/Gay Anthropology in a Globalizing World Edited by Ellen Lewin and William L. Leap © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-405-19102-9 OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page ii READINGS IN ENGAGED ANTHROPOLOGY Readings in Engaged Anthropology is a series of thematic books that demonstrate how an anthropological perspective contributes to reframing the public discourse on important and timely social issues. Volumes are thoughtful nuanced treatments by a set of contributors on subjects that are publicly, ethically, and politically rel- evant in a changing world, and are of intellectual importance not only within anthro- pology, but in other fields such as law, gender, human sexuality, and health and social welfare. An important objective of this new series is not just social critique, but active engagement in the problems of broader global communities. Readings in Engaged Anthropology books are written primarily for students, educators and intellectuals to provide a deeper analysis of the social, political and ethical debates in which anthropological and cross-cultural analyses are vital contributions to the public discourse, and help to redefine public policy. Forthcoming: Gender Violence: A Reader, edited by Sally Engle Merry OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page iii Out in Public Reinventing Lesbian/ Gay Anthropology in a Globalizing World Edited by Ellen Lewin and William L. Leap A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page iv This edition first published 2009 © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd except for editorial material and organization © 2009 Ellen Lewin and William L. Leap. Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell. Registered Office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom Editorial Offices 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. The right of Ellen Lewin and William L. Leap to be identified as the author of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. 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If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Out in public : reinventing lesbian/gay anthropology in a globalizing world / edited by Ellen Lewin and William L. Leap. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4051-9102-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4051-9101-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Lesbians—Social life and customs. 2. Gays—Social life and customs. 3. Homosexuality. 4. Gay and lesbian studies. I. Lewin, Ellen. II. Leap, William. HQ75.5.O935 2009 306.76′60973—dc22 2008051205 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Set in 10.5/13pt Minion by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong Printed in Singapore 1 2009 OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page v Contents Acknowledgments viii Notes on Contributors x Editors’ Introduction 1 William L. Leap and Ellen Lewin Part I. Out in Public: Reflecting on Experience 25 1 My Date with Phil Donahue: A Queer Intellectual in TV-Land 27 Esther Newton (University of Michigan) 2 Changes and Challenges: Ethnography, Homosexuality, and HIV Prevention Work in Guadalajara 33 Héctor Carrillo (San Francisco State University) 3 Going Home Ain’t Always Easy: Ethnography and the Politics of Black Respectability 54 E. Patrick Johnson (Northwestern University) Part II. Sexual Sameness is not a Self-Evident Terrain 71 4 The Personal Isn’t Always Political 73 Karen Brodkin (University of California, Los Angeles) 5 Who’s Gay? What’s Gay? Dilemmas of Identity Among Gay Fathers 86 Ellen Lewin (University of Iowa) OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page vi vi Contents 6 A Queer Situation: Poverty, Prisons, and Performances of Infidelity and Instability in the New Orleans Lesbian Anthem 104 Natasha Sandraya Wilson (University of New Orleans) Part III. Unpacking the Engagements between Sexuality and Broader Ideological Positions 123 7 Tuskegee on the “Down Low”: A Bioculturalist Brings the Past into the Present 125 Rachel Watkins (American University) 8 Back and Forth to the Land: Negotiating Rural and Urban Sexuality Among the Radical Faeries 143 Scott Morgensen (Macalester College) 9 The Power of Stealth: (In)Visible Sites of Female-to-Male Transsexual Resistance 164 Elijah Adiv Edelman (American University) 10 Rumsfeld!: Consensual BDSM and “Sadomasochistic” Torture at Abu Ghraib 180 Margot Weiss (Wesleyan University) 11 Professional Baseball, Urban Restructuring and (Changing) Gay Geographies in Washington, DC 202 William L. Leap (American University) Part IV. International and Local Formations of Same-Sex and Transgender Identities 223 12 Public Sex: The Geography of Female Homoeroticism and the (In)Visibility of Female Sexualities 225 Megan Sinnott (Georgia State University) 13 Neither in the Closet nor on the Balcony: Private Lives and Public Activism in Nicaragua 240 Florence E. Babb (University of Florida) 14 Life Lube: Discursive Spheres of Sexuality, Science, and AIDS 256 Harris Solomon (Brown University) OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page vii Contents vii 15 Man Marries Man in Nigeria? 273 Rudolf P. Gaudio (State University of New York College, Purchase) Part V. Sexuality and Neoliberal Citizenship 293 16 LGBT Rights in the European Union: a Queer Affair? 295 Mark Graham (University of Stockholm) 17 Turning the Lion City Pink? Interrogating Singapore’s Gay Civil Servant Statement 317 Chris Tan (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) 18 The Marriage between Kinship and Sexuality in New Mexico’s Domestic Partnership Debate 338 Lavinia M. Nicolae (University of New Mexico) Index 357 OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page viii Acknowledgments Now that we have produced a third edited volume on lesbian and gay anthropology, our debts to others have accumulated to the point that they defy enumeration. Both editors have benefited from many forms of support and encouragement that our respective institutional locations have provided. Ellen thanks the University of Iowa and its Departments of Women’s Studies and Anthropology; Bill is indebted to American University and the Department of Anthropology – particularly so for giving continuing support for the annual Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference, a venue whose discussions embody many of the ideas that this collec- tion’s essays display. Some of the contributors to this volume submitted their essays several years ago and we owe them special thanks for their patience while we brought in other contributors and concluded negotiations that would make the volume a concrete reality. As has been the case with our other collections, Out in the Field and Out in Theory, this volume had its genesis in a number of sessions the two of us have organized at meetings of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for the Anthropology of North America (SANA). These were events that stimulated conversation and debate with many of our colleagues, opportunities that sharpened our arguments and helped us to clarify our thinking on many matters. We are grateful for all of these discussions, even when the outcome was disagree- ment with our interlocutors. This project began at another press but for various reasons has moved to its current home. Since beginning to work with our editor at Blackwell, Rosalie Robertson, and her very able assistants Deirdre Ilkson and Julia Kirk, we have come to understand editorial proficiency and professionalism in a whole new way. We appreciate their enthusiasm for this project and their efficiency more than we can describe. We also owe thanks to Misha Quill, of the University of Iowa, whose work on the index was meticulous and speedy. OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page ix Acknowledgments ix Finally, we have personal debts to acknowledge. Ellen is now married to the amaz- ing Liz Goodman, a “recovered anthropologist,” who has kept her supplied with exceptional wine and food throughout the preparation of this volume while also providing meticulous critiques of work-in-progress. Her support is absolutely vital. Ellen’s canine and feline family have been a source of balance throughout the years that this book was underway, so she wishes to thank Ruby and Opal, opinionated standard poodles, and Katya, Vanya, and Pasha, whose accomplishments as cats far exceed the abilities of their tsarist forebears. Bill continues to admire the enduring support that this work receives from his life partner, decidedly non-anthropologist, Angui Madera. Also highly valued are his continuing conversations in recent years with an amazing group of graduate students at American University, including Audrey Cooper, Elijah Edelman, Harjant Gill, Kathy Grant, Dylan Kerrigan, Khari Lamarca, Michelle Marzullo, Dr Mindy Michels, and Dr Maria Amelia Viteri. His reflections on public anthropol- ogy,sexual sameness and queer activism continue to be guided and inspired by their narratives and their courage. OIPA01 17/02/2009 10:34 AM Page x Notes on Contributors Florence E. Babbis Vada Allen Yeomans Professor of Women’s Studies and affiliate professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. She has numerous publications based on her research in Peru, Nicaragua, and Cuba. Her current book in progress is The Tourism Encounter:Fashioning Latin American Nations and Histories. Karen Brodkin writes about race, gender, and activism, and is beginning to write about sexuality and activism. She is the author of Making Democracy Matter: Identity and Activism in Los Angeles, and How Jews Became White Folks and What that Says about Race in America.She is completing a book on an environmental justice struggle in South Los Angeles. She teaches anthropology and women’s studies at UCLA. Héctor Carrillo is a faculty member in the Department of Sexuality Studies, San Francisco State University, where he teaches courses on the cross-cultural aspects of sexuality and gender, sexual identities, and sexuality and public policy. He is the author of the prize-winning book The Night Is Young: Sexuality in Mexico in the Time of AIDS.He currently conducts ethnographic research on sexuality and HIV among Mexican gay and bisexual immigrant men in California. He is co-chair of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science track of the 2008 International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. Elijah Edelman is a PhD student in anthropology at American University in Washington, DC. His work focuses centrally on varied elements of post-transition FTM experience in North America. Elijah currently sits on the board of the Association for Gender Research, Education, Academia and Action. Rudolf Gaudioteaches anthropology and media studies at Purchase College, State University of New York. His current research focuses on language (especially