ACHIEVING EQUALITY IN PROGRESSIVE CONTEXTS QUEER(Y)ING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

• Published in: Public administration quarterly Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 545 - 577
• Main Authors: MATTHEWS, PETER, POYNER, CHRIS
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SPAEF 01.12.2020; SAGE Publications; Southern Public Administration Education Foundation
• Subjects: Activism; Civil rights; Discrimination; Equal rights; Equality; Feminism; Gender identity; Heteronormativity; Heterosexism; Heterosexuality; Homeless people; Homophobia; Housing; Housing authorities; Human rights; Legislation; LGBTQ people; Patriarchy; Political activism; Political science; Public administration; Public services; Queer theory; Sexuality; Universal service; Victimization; Scotland; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Europe
• DOI: 10.37808/paq.44.4.3
• ISSN: 0734-9149

In many countries, including the UK, the majority of legal impediments to equality for LGBT+ people have been removed, and legislation actively promotes equality for LGBT+ people. While a great deal of research and activism through public administration remains, rightly, focused on achieving political and legal equality in states where this is the case, we suggest that in progressive contexts research and scholarship now needs to move to “queerying" everyday public administration. Through an empirical study of housing and homelessness services in Scotland, UK, we show that the insights of queer theory, used to unpack the everyday ways in which administrative processes (re)create compulsory heterosexuality, as well as the continued direct and indirect discrimination LGBT+ service users may face, can open-up a new research agenda for public administration where queer theory can be applied more widely.