Queering Law and Order: LGBTQ Communities and the Criminal Justice System

(Hardback)

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Throughout U.S. history, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people have been pathologized, victimized, and criminalized. Reports of lynching, burning, or murdering of LGBTQ people has been documented for centuries Prior to the 1970s, LGBTQ people were deemed as having psychological disorders and subsequently subject to electroshock therapy and other ineffective and cruel treatments. LGBTQ people have historically been arrested or imprisoned for crimes like sodomy, cross-dressing, and gathering in public spaces. And while there have been many strides to advocate for LGBTQ rights in contemporary times, there are still many ways that the criminal justice system works against LGBTQ and their lives, liberties, and freedoms.



Queering Law and Order: LGBTQ Communities and Fight for Justice examines the state of LGBTQ people within the criminal justice system. Intertwining legal cases, academic research, and popular media, the author reviews a wide range of issues - ranging from historical heterosexist and transphobic legislation to police brutality to the prison industrial complex to family law. Grounded in Queer Theory and intersectional lenses, each chapter provides recommendations for queering and disrupting the justice system. The book serves as both an academic resource and a call to action for readers who are interested in advocating for LGBTQ rights.

Reviews

In this vivid, powerful, and provoking text Nadal masterfully exposes how criminal justice policies, stereotypes, and fear have historically obscured rather than clarified the everyday realities of LGBTQ people--the perennial "other"--in the US. He charges that anti-gay policies, supported by certain social movements and the mentality of some, continue to strategically brutalize, marginalize, oppress, and silence non-straight people. Marshalling sound evidence and in vivid detail, Nadal argues that it is time we as a society acknowledge the brutality, intimidation, and oppression waged against LGBTQ people. Instead of pushing sexuality to the social margins, it should be situated at the center of our moral universe, prompting us to expose, accept, appreciate, and mobilize "othered" persons and correlating modes of thought, as we seek to humanize the existing (twisted) social contours of gender and sexual justice. Ultimately, this author challenges readers to understand, view, and treat sexuality for what it is--part of a person's unique self. Broadly, this book calls for a transformation in moral, philosophical, legal, cultural, social, and public thinking about sexuality and criminal justice. The text addresses areas of philosophy, legal thought, sexuality, and gender studies, offering a must read for people vested in better understanding of, e.g., sexual violence, LGBTQ people, and sexual justice. Highly recommended.

Author Bio

Kevin Leo Yabut Nadal is professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and The Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY).