GAY AND LESBIAN POLITICS - ASSIMILATION OR SUBVERSION - A DANISH PERSPECTIVE

The article discusses the trajectory of lesbian and gay politics in De nmark, from the 1970s to the 1990s. It argues that, as part of the soc ial and cultural change, marriage has become an empty institution; hen ce the ostensibly remarkable progress that gay and lesbian couples hav e also been conceded a marriage-like status. However, while pursuing t his right, lesbian and gay organizations may have been too compliant w ith middle-class ideals of ''decent'' lifestyles; entering a registere d partnership may become a new norm which excludes ''less respectable' ' modes of homosexual lifestyles, The radical potential of homosexuali ty as a manifestation of the variety of lifestyles should not be jetti soned in the name of politics of assimilation.