The prevailing hypothesis in the literature on LGBTQ representation is built around the contact effect—which asserts that the presence of an out representative changes the group from an unknown ‘other’ into a recognizable and non-threatening constituency. My dissertation seeks to develop ways to better conceptualize and analyze this effect. To do this, I open with a critique of substantive representation using queer and feminist theories to argue that substantive representations should be assessed from the framework of “world-building” or “world-opening” (Warner 1993). To do this, I draw on queer phenomenology to rethink traditional measures of political representation. 

I apply this approach to an empirical analysis of the UK parliament. My analysis of early day motions (EDMs) shows that Members of Parliament use these statements to reinforce a colonial dynamic of sexual citizenship by marking human rights violations that occur in the Global South. The EDMs also emphasized a masculine political history of LGBTQ constituencies. An examination of parliamentary debates in honor of Pride month, in contrast, out MPs were able to craft historical narratives, introduce new policy priorities, and discuss the intra-group dynamics of the constituency. In other debates this type of open communication was impossible.

My analysis of four key public policies—Gender Recognition, Civil Partnership, Same-Sex Marriage, and anti-discrimination law—support the findings from the previous chapters. I show how out MPs are unable to articulate a ‘queer’ identity or version of LGBTQ political representation due to the constant bombardment of anti-LGBTQ actors. This chapter clearly shows how the public space is not a neutral site for LGBTQ political representation.

My interviews with six out MPs lead me to argue for a turn to concepts of intimacy in our study of representation. From my interview data I develop the concept of intimate habitation which describes the intimate economy of parliament. This concept ties together the analysis in the preceding chapters by providing a new vocabulary for scholars to employ when assessing the contact effect of out MPs on their cisgender and heterosexual colleagues. It situates representation firmly within the institution of parliament and brings relationships to the foreground of political representation.

I conclude by offering a survey of queer texts on the importance of futurity and suggest that representation be judged by its ability to care for future queers. The overarching argument throughout the dissertation is that the measurement of substantive representation is a concept that reinforces the status quo for marginalized groups rather than challenging the cisheteronormativity of politics. I argue that the discipline must give up on the goal of substantive representation as it is currently conceived in order to achieve justice in democratic politics for LGBTQ people.