Vlad BABENCO
Abstract
The political interests of the queer community do not receive sufficient attention in Romanian academia. Although recently some advancements have been made in this respect, more studies are necessary to support the local progress of sexual orientation and gender identity minorities’ rights. Such research requires a discussion regarding the concept of political interests, how and if it can be applied to certain groups of people and what its limitations are. The topic of political interests has been widely discussed in political science and seems to be based on a troublesome concept. On the one hand, there are numerous authors approaching this subject in connection with democracy and political representation studies. On the other hand, the concept also has at least three other uses - political interests as interest in politics, public interest and interest groups. These are completely different than the idea of an individual’s (or a group of individuals’) own specific interests. This article will present a selection of various scholarly views about political interests while trying to offer a justification for applying the concept in research on queer communities. I will also draw on feminist studies which can provide complex and helpful resources for understanding political interests. For the prospect of developing a better research tool, I will investigate the concept and method of “intersectionality”. While surveying these themes, I will also draw on queer theory to give weight to the necessity of studying queer political interests.
Keywords
■ Political interests ■ LGBTQIA+ ■ Queer theory ■ Feminism ■ Intersectionality ■ The Political representation
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