Straight-gay friendships: Relational masculinities and equalities landscapes in Sydney, Australia

Equalities landscapes for sexual minorities are not achieved by formal legal and political change alone. This paper examines everyday friendships between straight- and gay-identifying men in Sydney, Australia, articulating the relational constitution of 'pro-gay' heterosexual men and equalities landscapes. Utilising interview and media data, I argue that pro-gay hetero-masculine subjects are evident in this context, and moreover, influence the creation of inner Sydney as an equalities landscape. Since hetero-masculinities are hegemonic in the social structures and systemic practices of heterosexism underpinning inequities for sexual minorities, attitudinal and behavioural changes in heterosexual men are fundamental for defining equalities landscapes. Furthermore, this analysis extends geographical research on sexualities, masculinities and friendship. I suggest that straight-gay friendships are a 'contradictory resource' for personal and social change. There are certainly possibilities for mutually reconfiguring masculine subjectivities and equalities landscapes, but simultaneously these are enacted within, and reinforce, existing systems of social difference and dominance. While constituting pro-gay hetero-masculinities, straight-gay friendships create landscapes of both new equalities and persistent inequalities. I discuss this complexity via three themes on the performance of relational masculinities, drawn from the interview data but presaged by the media data: relations of difference, networked relations, and relations of similarity and structural reinforcement. Nevertheless, I argue that reconfiguring hetero-masculinity is necessary for equalities landscapes, and must be an aim of gender and sexual politics. Consequently, I suggest that attempts to shift hetero-masculinity at the everyday level, via self-reflection and ordinary encounters, have a profound influence on equalities landscapes.

► Examines friendships between straight and gay men in inner Sydney, Australia. ► Analyses pro-gay hetero-masculinities and their role in social equity. ► Relational constitution of pro-gay hetero-masculinities and equalities landscapes. ► Straight-gay friendships as contradictory resources with persistent inequalities. ► Nevertheless, pro-gay masculinities vital for sexual politics and social equity.