“A Community… Sounds Like Communism”

Notions of Gay Community and “Community Belonging Contradiction” Among Bulgarian Non-Heterosexual Males

Datos Bibliográficos

ID17535641
AutoresShaban Darakchi (0000-0002-4611-6186, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Sofia, Bulgaria, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen71
Número13
Páginas1-26
Fecha de publicación2023-11-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Homosexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0091-8369 • E-ISSN: 1540-3602
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00918369.2023.2275302
PMID37921787
OpenAlexW4388288818
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas44

The term "gay community" has been criticized for its inability to explain the pluralities in a specific cultural and political context. Based on in-depth interviews with 63 non-heterosexual males in Bulgaria, this study aims to revisit the theories of gay communities in a non-Western, post-communist context. The data from this study suggest that (1) the idea of a "gay community" is often rejected due to anti-communist notions and explicit engagement with individualism as anti-communitarianism; (2) belonging to a gay community is subjective, and initial verbal detachment from gay communities does not indicate a lack of factual belonging to such communities; (3) the concepts of "personal communities" and "family of choice" remain relatively irrelevant in the Bulgarian context; (4) the most significant factor for attachment to a gay community is the notion of "gay culture" and "gay scene"; (5) recent forms of "sexual attachments" have led to a certain political involvement; and (6) the "anti-gender campaigns" have revitalized the importance of gay communities and have brought an increasing number of respondents to certain involvement in gay communities and networks, challenging the theories of "post-gay" societies

Bulgarian · Communism · Contradiction · Lesbian · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology