Study information

LGBTQ+ Policies and Politics in the UK

Module titleLGBTQ+ Policies and Politics in the UK
Module codePOL3292
Academic year2024/5
Credits15
Module staff

Professor Claire Dunlop (Convenor)

Duration: Term123
Duration: Weeks

11

Number students taking module (anticipated)

25

Module description

In recent years in the UK, there have been unprecedented policy developments affecting LGBTQ+ citizens. While some of these have been emancipatory and welcomed by LGBTQ+ communities, others have been harmful or partial. Whether good or bad, these policy moves have not come from nowhere. They are not ‘out of the blue’. LGBTQ+ individuals have long been the targets of various policies – national and local. This module focusses on the major policy developments and the politics surrounding them since the 1960s. How have LGBTQ+ citizens been characterised by powerful policy actors? In what ways has this community reacted to prejudicial policies to create a more equal society? Is political backlash against progressive policies and politics for LGBTQ+ peoples inevitable?

The module has both scientific and practical value. The ability to appreciate inequalities and the experiences of marginalised populations is essential in our world across all professions and walks of life. Such sensibility and empathy can be honed by spending time discussing, reading and thinking about how policies impact specific groups of people and the political reactions they provoke. The module offers you the opportunity to explore these themes both through academic research as well as the lived accounts of LGBTQ+ activists and citizens.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Broadly stated, the module will strengthen your critical understanding of: i) the interplay between policy and politics, ii) processes of framing and how they disadvantage marginalised citizens and, iii) LGBTQ+ history and the work of these communities over time. The central aim of this module is to develop the analytical skills required to achieve deeper understanding and critical engagement with key episodes in LGBTQ+ policy developments in the UK since the 1960s. You will gain a detailed understanding of the most pertinent theoretical approaches to three aspects of policy-making for the LGBTQ+ community: social construction and framing; everyday resistance; and professional campaigning. You will learn to use these approaches to analyse LGBTQ+ policy case studies both historical (for example, the AIDS crisis and section 28) and from the present day (for example, gender recognition reform). Specifically, the aim is to understand how LGBTQ+ citizens have been construed in each policy moment, encourage you to critically reflect upon the stereotypes often put constructed around LGBTQ+ citizens in policy, identify the power politics underpinning aspects of LGBTQ+ history, and appreciate the many political roles played by the LGBTQ+ community in resisting harmful policies and gaining representation to create emancipatory ones.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 1. understand the importance of studying LGBTQ+ policies and politics
  • 2. demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of approaches to policy-making, protest and campaigning pertinent to LGBTQ+ politics
  • 3. apply the appropriate concepts and theories to a very high level in order to explain and critically appraise policy developments for LGBTQ+ citizens in the UK
  • 4. use insights from the module to explain political phenomenon as it relates to LGBTQ+ politics.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 5. find, use and critically analyse a range of material to a very high level, including empirical and theoretical studies published in scientific journals, books and conference papers; policy reports and guidelines published by governments, administrations and international organisations; internet items focused on lived experiences (e.g. podcasts, videos);
  • 6. critically analyse to a very high level both empirical and theoretical material by applying theoretical arguments to empirical case studies.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 7. communicate ideas effectively and respectfully during class discussions and in written forms;
  • 8. communicate ideas in a highly effective fashion in a given number of words in written forms;
  • 9. work independently and in groups to a very high level.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

 

Introduction: LGBTQ+ Policy Process in the UK and How to Understand It

LGBTQ+ Lives as Policy ‘Problems’: Framing and Stereotyping by Parties and the Media

Contact Theory and the Political Power of Coming Out

LGBTQ+ Policies as Statecraft

Political Allyship and its Problems

LGBTQ+ Role Models – Queer Representation in Westminster and Whitehall

Community Action and Infrapolitics – How LGBTQ+ Charities Change Lives

The Politics of LGBTQ+ Expertise

Going Global – the UK’s International LGBTQ+ Policies

Understanding and Surviving Backlash, Culture Wars and Moral Panics

Each week we will use different UK policy case studies to explore these conceptual ideas. These case studies may include: Section 28, Pride festivals, same-sex marriage, gender recognition reform, decriminalization, HIV/AIDS crisis, hate crime legislation, asylum policies and more.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
221280

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning and Teaching2211 x 2 hour seminar
Guided Independent Study48Reading set texts and preparing for class
Guided Independent Study30Conducting research for the assessments
Guided Independent Study50Preparing the assessments

Formative assessment

Form of assessmentSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Essay 1 Plan50 words1-9Verbal
Essay 2 Plan200 words1-9Verbal

Summative assessment (% of credit)

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
10000

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Essay 1 (political writing, position statement, opinion piece, press statement)30800 words1-9Written
Essay 2702200 words1-9Written
0
0
0
0
0

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
Essay 1 (800 words)Essay 1 (800 words)1-9Referral/Deferral period
Essay 2 (2200 words)Essay 2 (2200 words)1-9Referral/Deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

  • Ayoub, P.M. (2016) When States Come Out Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press
  • Baker, P. (2022) Outrageous! London: Reaktion
  • Farmer, M. (2020) Transnational LGBT Activism and UK-Based NGOs Palgrave Macmillan
  • Formby, E. (2017) Exploring LGBT Spaces and Communities London: Routledge
  • Haider-Markel, D.P. (ed) (2021) The Oxford Encyclopaedia of LGBT Politics and Policy Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • Jeffrey-Poulter, S. (1991) Peers, Queers, and Commons: The Struggle for Gay Law Reform from 1950 to the Present New York: Routledge
  • Johnson, P. (2013) Homosexuality and the European Court of Human Rights, Abingdon: Routledge
  • Paternotte, D. and Tremblay, M. (2015) The Ashgate Research Companion to Lesbian and Gay Activism Abingdon: Ashgate.
  • Peterson, A., Wahlström, M. and Wennerhag, M. (2018) Pride Parades and LGBT Movements, London: Routledge
  • Puar, J.K. (2017) Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times Durham, NC: Duke University Press
  • Raboin, T. (2017) Discourses on LGBT Asylum in the UK: Constructing a Queer Haven Manchester: Manchester University Press
  • Rayside, D. (1998) On the Fringe Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
  • Reynolds, A. (2019) Children of Harvey Milk Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • Schneider, A.L. and Ingram, H.M. (eds) (2004) Deserving and Entitled New York, NY: State University of New York Press
  • Scott, J.C. (1990) Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  • Weeks, J. (2016) Coming Out: The Emergence of LGBT Identities in Britain from the Nineteenth Century to the Present London: Quartet
  • Weeks, J. (2007) The World We Have Won London: Routledge
  • Winter, B., Forest, M. and Senac, R. (eds) (2018) Global Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage Palgrave Macmillan

 

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

Key words search

Equality – Exclusion – Framing – HIV/AIDs – Human Rights – LGBTQ+ – Policy-Making – Political – Protest – Resistance

Credit value15
Module ECTS

7.5

Module pre-requisites

None

Module co-requisites

None

NQF level (module)

6

Available as distance learning?

No

Origin date

06/02/2023

Last revision date

06/02/2023