Funny Boys and Girls 1

What does it mean to queer the diaspora ³ ? The question was at the back of my mind as I walked into a recent panel discussion entitled “Queer Festivals Go Global,” organized by the 1994 New York Experimental Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and but one of a spate of recent events ⁴ that seem to be positing a notion of a shared alterior sexuality that exists across national boundaries. As I listened to the discussion, it became increasingly obvious to me how complicated it is to think in terms of a queer diaspora: the notions of both “queer” and “diaspora” connote highly contested terrain, where it is difficult if not impossible to avoid falling into murky territory while trying to negotiate a path around existing and competing discourses on sexuality, class, “culture,” and language. In fact, I walked away from the event more aware than ever of the ways in which a project of constructing a diasporic queerness—on the part of queer activists, scholars, and cultural producers—is fraught with both pleasures and dangers.