Assume the Position: Class and the LGBT Movement (2011) Available to Purchase

This chapter develops the argument that when you reach a certain economic class position, by virtue of education, labor, or inheritance, you also assume a certain position in the social order: You become part of a group of elites, and begin to show a certain level of subservience to those whom the system benefits. It identifies three aspects of class status—seeing, wanting, and transforming—and illustrates how these operate in LGBTQ movement politics, affecting how the movement’s agenda is set and by whom. In particular, it argues that money and political access have replaced grassroots activists as the arbiters of what issues are foregrounded, what compromises are made, and how the goal of the movement is defined.