ABSTRACT
The distinction between the private and the public sphere is deeply embedded in our understanding of intimacy and sexuality, the social, and the political. In its manifold and distinct theorisations, the public/private dichotomy tries to take account of the complex interrelations between the state, civil society and the personal. The definition of the division between public and private has been central to the states ambition to regulate sexual and gender cultures. This chapter demonstrates how the law works to banish queer sexualities from the public sphere. It argues that it is largely through the containment of queer sexualities and identities in the private that full citizenship has been withheld to gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and other queers. Legal practice and the emerging space of its contestation are important aspects of the creation of heteronormative hegemony. The chapter suggests framing the attempts of the lesbian and gay, bisexual and feminist movements to challenge heterosexist state politics as a construction of counterpublics.
