ABSTRACT
On 7 December 2017, the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 was passed in the Australian parliament, legalising same-sex marriage. While this was undoubtedly a progressive step towards securing equal rights for a sector of the Australian queer community, there are critics who argue that marriage equality is symptomatic of a pervasive homonormative imperative within Australian queer identity politics (see Baumgartner 2013 and Dreher 2016). Homonormativity refers to ‘a politics that does not contest dominant heteronormative assumptions and institutions’ (Duggan 2002: 179) and reinforces a conservative value system based on heterosexist kinship and relationship norms, marginalising many within the queer community who, by choice or circumstance, find themselves unable to replicate these norms. Young adult (YA) literature, despite its subversive potential, is also deeply ideological, typically modelling those subjectivities deemed legitimate by the society in which it is produced. Careful examination of the implications of the queer discourses operating within YA literature is required (Blackburn et al. 2015). This chapter analyses three Australian queer YA novels published during the period of public debate preceding the legislation of marriage equality –The Love Interest (2017) by Cale Dietrich, The Things We Promise (2017) by JC Burke and Micah Johnson Goes West (2017) by Sean Kennedy – and argues that they largely reinforce a homonormative ideal, valorising monogamous long-term relationships and assimilation within dominant heteronormative culture as the norm, often by punishing characters who experiment with alternative modes of sexual expression or community with the threat of loneliness, disease or even death.
