L'Espace Politique (Dec 2023)
La production d’espaces rassurants en territoire hétéronormé : les spatialités queer associatives dans les villes moyennes
Abstract
In France, local queer associations participate, through their activities, in providing individuals from sexual and gender minorities with spaces that are more or less free of heteronormativity and that promote self-affirmation. These spaces, which can be considered as reassuring, are nevertheless little studied outside the large urban centres, particularly in medium-sized cities, thus raising the question of queer possibilities in these territories. Based on a precise census of associations on a regional scale, and associative activities collected through the social networks of three structures established in medium-sized cities in the north of France, results show the spatial strategies put in place by the associations to assert their presence in territories where queer communities are often little developed and visible. Through various local partnerships and by taking over spaces that are sometimes perceived as heterosexual, these associations, through their shifting practices, challenge the supposed sexual binarity of the places. Moreover, the spatialities of associations, through the relations maintained with local populations and public authorities, inform us about the acceptance of sexual and gender minorities, and participate in establishing a geography of queer possibilities.
