This event features a discussion with Justin Bengry (University of Oxford, King's College London, and the University of Exeter).
Even as capitalism promotes the visibility and representation of some of us through public commercial validation, queer scholars, ever since Lisa Duggan coined the term ‘homonormativity’, however, counter that business enterprise too often privileges middle-class, cis, white, gay men at the expense of women and trans people, people of colour, queer elders and other economically marginalised populations. Forever chasing the trappings of consumer capitalism, they argue, also deradicalises those who, rather than focusing on liberation for all, instead prioritise individual attainment, marriage, family and the acquisition of the paraphernalia associated with heterosexual households and lifestyles. Does queer history give us alternatives to this seemingly inexorable march toward homonormative lives and homonational politics? When and how did queer commercial politics and activism emerge in Britain?
Justin Bengry was Director of the Goldsmiths Centre for Queer History, where he convened the world's first MA in Queer History (2017-24). He now holds visiting appointments at the University of Oxford, King's College London, and the University of Exeter. Justin is most recently co-editor of two volumes: A Queer Scrapbook: LGBTIQ+ histories from across Britain and Ireland (forthcoming 2026) with Matt Cook, Rebecca Jennings and E-J Scott, and Locating Queer Histories: Places and Traces Across the UK (Bloomsbury 2022) with Matt Cook and Alison Oram. In addition to research projects on LGBTQ+ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing work on the failed UK policies around pardons for homosexual offences, he is also completing a book on The Pink Pound.
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