240517 SE MM3 Sexual Identities and/or Orientations: From LGBT via Queer to LGBTTIQQ2SAA+ - and back (?) (2023W)

AIM OF THE COURSE:At the end of the semester, the students should be capable of• Knowledge of supranational (WHO, UN, etc.); national (Austrian Government, ministries ect.); and activist (Amnesty International, QWien, etc.) definitions of sexual identities and orientations.• Distinguish what the law says vs. what activists’ demand vs. what individuals claim for themselves.• Knowlegde of the historical development of the wider topic, including knowledge of the ICD-11 catalogue.• Engaging in current debates on gender, sex, identities, sexual orientations, and related relationship models that don’t fall in an according category, based on up-to-date scientific discussions.

CONTENT:According to the World Health organization, applied then by the European Commission into European law, as well as most national governments, being lesbian, gay or bisexual is a sexual orientation; while trans identity is an identity  hence the acronym “LGBT”, of which members have legal minority rights. The most comprehensive activist acronym currently used is “LGBTTIQQ2SAA+”, standing for “lesbian-gay-bisexual-transsexual-transidentity-intersex-queer-questioning-2spirit-asexual-alies-plus”. Other activist as well as academic scholars refuse those categorizations and only use the term “queer” instead – with the downside that the “queer” self-attribution does not provide legal protection. On top of that, also new relationship models such as polyamory and relationship anarchy entered the discourse; yet without any legal official state neither as identity nor as orientation.

So, where are we? What is legal? Since when? Why does it matter, if so at all? And what could be “the next big thing”? This and further questions will be discussed in the seminar, and ideally answered by the end of the semester.

METHODS:Lecture / discussion in class / Group discussions / Group work / presentations / technical realisation via the web-platform “Moodle”.

REALISATION:The first half of the semester is dedicated to reading relevant texts, followed by discussion (based on individual small assignments) in class. The second half of the semester is dedicated to specific topics that students in group of 3 pick themselves on bases of their interest. Those topics will be developed by a small seminar work (theory-based only, no empiric survey), and presented and discussed in class.