Queer Progress: From Homophobia to Homonationalism

by Tim McCaskell

How did a social movement evolve from a small group of young radicals to the incorporation of LGBTQ communities into full citizenship on the model of Canadian multiculturalism?

Tim McCaskell contextualizes his work in gay, queer, and AIDS activism in Toronto from 1974 to 2014 within the shift from the Keynesian welfare state of the 1970s to the neoliberal economy of the new millennium. A shift that saw sexuality —once tightly regulated by conservative institutions—become an economic driver of late capitalism, and sexual minorities celebrated as a niche market. But even as it promoted legal equality, this shift increased disparity and social inequality. Today, the glue of sexual identity strains to hold together a community ever more fractured along lines of class, race, ethnicity, and gender; the celebration of LGBTQ inclusion pinkwashes injustice at home and abroad.

Queer Progress tries to make sense of this transformation by narrating the complexities and contradictions of forty years of queer politics in Canada’s largest city.

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, Queer, Canada, Social Science

520 pages, Paperback

Published September 8, 2016

Reviews

[Brianna]

I love Tim McCaskell's writing. I quickly skimmed over this book for a few hours for research for an essay I'm writing for my Intro to Sexuality Studies class, but I hope in the future I can really dive in and read everything throughougly.

[R.J. Gilmour]

McCaskell an activist who was involved with Toronto's queer and HIV groups traces the development of these communities from their founding in the 1970s to the 21st-century. It is a fascinating look at how one person straddled all these different worlds while trying to balance his beliefs in social justice.

[Ty]

Deeply insightful, and comprehensive with great examples from across Canada.