Queering Representation

"Queering Representation explores long-ignored issues relating to LGBTQ voters and politicians in Canada. Because political representation matters. And representation requires participation: voting, joining political parties, running as candidates, acting as politicians. Yet the election of openly LGBTQ people - lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer - is a relatively recent phenomenon in the West. The presence at the heart of state power of individuals associated with historically ostracized, even criminalized, identities raises important questions. What are the LGBTQ electorate's characteristics and voting behaviours, and what empowerment has it achieved through electoral systems? How do straight voters view out LGBTQ politicians, and what part do the media play in framing these perceptions? What pathways to power do LGBTQ politicians follow? Do they represent LGBTQ people and communities in particular, and, if so, how is this role articulated? And finally, how do Canadian party ideologies shape LGBTQ representation? The so-called democratic deficit - whereby particular social, ethnic, and sex/gender groups have traditionally been excluded from the political landscape - is a si