Before we can talk about homonormativity, we have to talk about heteronormativity. Simply put, heteronormativity assumes that every person is straight. Not just that they are straight, but their behavior and sexual orientation are in line with their gender which is in line with their genitalia (penis = male = acts masculine/likes women). Homonormativity applies those same theories to the gay community. In their article, "Questioning Homonormativity," Rick Braatz describes, "Our culture, I think, has to pin things down. They have to sort of define it and fix it in heteronormative terms." Homonormativity is not the same as heteronormativity in the sense that it does not assume that every person is gay; rather, it assumes that queer people want to be just like heteronormative people. Furthermore, it rewards the gay guys who "[mimic] heteronormative standards" (Flores).
HOMONORMATIVITY: "A politics that does not contest dominant heteronormative assumptions and institutions, but upholds and sustains them, while promising the possibility of a demobilized gay constituency and a privatized, depoliticized gay culture anchored in domesticity and consumption" (Duggan 2003)
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