ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how a politics of difference plays out and is articulated in work raising awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) refugees in Finland. It discusses the investment in whiteness as the norm in contemporary LGTBIQ politics. The chapter focuses on how the investment in a national belonging articulates itself discursively at events that raise awareness about queer refugees. Rey Chow connects the ascendancy of whiteness to the larger epistemological framework of biopower, and understands racial violence not as an exception but as a systemic function internal to the social organizing of society. In connection with Turku Pride, a panel was arranged by Amnesty International and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, to discuss the situation of queer asylum seekers. The sentiment of the audience is surprising in light of the media reports, but becomes understandable when thinking about the concept of homonationalism.
