Crippling Sexual Justice

Exploring homosexuals' citizenship in Denmark from a justice perspective, this article critically interrogates society's supposed gay-friendliness by asking how far it has moved in achieving sexual justice, and inquiring into the gains and pains of the existing modes of achieving this end. The article develops a normative and analytical framework, encompassing the multiple structural conditions, the virtues of citizens, and the emotional dimension of belonging, which enable or hamper justice. It integrates theories of democratic citizenship, belonging, and social justice, and provides an updated theorization of the social-sexual regime, considering the occurrence of a normalizing logic and its implications for the achievement of justice. The article then analyses the manifold consequences of these circumstances on the citizenship of gays by examining relations of recognition and representation within family law, civil society, and in the labour market. In conclusion, I suggest the possibility of different evaluations of the level of sexual justice reached, a mainly positive, partially negative one. Additionally, I discuss the gains and pains of the existing normalizing politics.