Contexts for Lesbian Citizenship Across Australian Public Spheres

This paper charts Australian public spheres on a map contoured by lesbianism. It investigates questions of citizenship and belonging across mainstream, extreme right, popular culture and overtly nationalist spheres, as well as lesbian public spheres. Using "context" as a central concept it argues that the critical and political foregrounding of the cultural capital formed in lesbian and queer public spheres is essential in order to create contexts for lesbian citizenships and belonging. It considers two recent contemporaneous events staged across Australian public spheres in order to investigate the limits and dimensions of lesbian citizenships-the political controversy over access to reproductive health services for single women and those in lesbian relationships, and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd.