Sexing diversity: Linguistic landscapes of homonationalism

- Illustrates the semiotic complexity of pinkwashing and homonationalism in the Israeli context.
- Documents how a variety of actors are complicit in the reproduction of Israeli homonationalism.
- Traces the roots of Israeli homonationalism to competing discourses of citizenship that have animated Zionist politics.
- Shows how Tel Aviv's “gay friendliness” contributes in subtle ways to exclusionary and repressive practices.
- Highlights the usefulness of Deleuze and Guattari's notion of the rhizome for research in critical sociolinguistics.

Our goal in this article is to illustrate some of the semiotic complexity of pinkwashing and homonationalism in the Israeli context, a complexity that we argue is inadequately modelled by a perspective that focuses solely on the “agentive” or “intentional” actions of the state. Instead, we draw on a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to demonstrate how a series of seemingly mundane practices involving an intricate web of state, para-state and non-state actors contribute to pinkwashing, and hence to the reproduction of Israeli homonationalism.