LGBT Community - Constraints and Practices of Space Appropriation in Bucharest
LGBT Community - Constraints and Practices of Space Appropriation in Bucharest

Summary/Abstract: Space appropriation gestures happen in everyday activities and conflicts can arise from a resistance of particular groups to such demands. A right we usually take for granted, as is for instance that of being with our friends in a pub, for LGBT people seems to be a continuous negotiation with the people around: to what extent the latter allows them to express their gender and sexual preferences. The article dwells on the following questions: how does the capital city of Romania, Bucharest, question the sexual orientation and gender of LGBT people, in what way they respond to such challenges and what role does space appropriation play in this situation? Thus, we will differentiate between urban public spaces and sexualized heteronormative places, investigating the practices (supported or not by legal instruments and social groups) used by LGBT people to appropriate space. As such, we use interviews and participative observation to analyse the interaction between the LGBT community and urban spaces with an eye on potential negative consequences of the current situation.

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