Sexuality, LGBTQ issues and critical social work: Thinking with queer and post-queer theories

This chapter asks what a critical social work (CSW) approach regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) persons/communities might look like, specifically focusing on how social work may challenge hetero/cis-normativities. It draws upon a range of queer and ‘post-queer’ theories (approaches that critique the racial, class and cis-based privileges inherent in some queer thinking) in order to trouble the anti-queer potential of some CSW. For example, aspects of CSW are rather dismissive of discursive concerns regarding the construction of sexuality categories and may understand LGBTQ issues only as claims for recognition of identities or cultures. This chapter, instead, considers how LGBTQ subjects are produced in social work through discourses of welfare need and equality, which are often based on naïve accounts of the power of both language and practice. It also draws upon post-queer work concerning both homonationalism and indigenous epistemologies to critique the tendency towards other normativities and the elision of trans, indigenous and black voices.