‘Tory-normativity’ and gay rights advocacy in the British Conservative Party since the 1950s

Abstract

Gay rights advocacy in the Conservative Party since the 1950s played-down its difference from Conservative beliefs by emphasising pragmatism over emancipation; discretion over celebration; and responsibility over rights. This positioning was allied to a construction of gay men and women in the image of the idealised conservative citizen: law-abiding, entrepreneurial, and ultimately familial – a process I label ‘Tory-normativity’. Tory-normativity introduced gay rights advocacy into the party in an acceptable form and consequently caused party policy to develop. Ultimately, the construction of Tory-normativity has been used to depoliticise gay identity: initially gay men and then from the 2000s onwards, gay men and women.