Civil society and the sexual politics of difference

This paper discusses the sexual politics of anti-normalization within the c ontext of the sociological discussions of civil society and the public sphe re. The sexual politics of anti-normalization is less centered around "iden tity" as a means of securing group solidarity and representing sexual commu nities in civil society. A politics of anti-normalization comprehends ident ity as a means of normalizing and regulating sexual desire and difference. Anti-normalization entails the politicization of ethical-moral issues conce rning sex and desire and the production of sexual differences beyond the us ual opposition of heterosexuality to homosexuality. I discuss the ways that the theoretical discourses on civil society reduce conceptions of differen ce to identity and develop a framework for analyzing the sexual politics of difference "beyond identity" in the public sphere.