Queer joy, queer killjoy: Queerness, nation, and affect in the Reykjavík pride parade 2000–2019

Abstract

In recent years, “queer joy” has become a prominent topic in queer circles in the West. It refers to a defiant sense of joy felt by LGBTQ + people in the face of an increasingly hostile environment. However, the political use of queer joy has a troubling history. In Iceland, the LGBTQ + movement has worked under the banner of joy since the turn of the century. This is encapsulated in the Reykjavík pride parade, which has, since its inception in 2000, been referred to as “The March of Joy.” This March has been a massive success. Recent parades have seen up to a hundred thousand people participate, a fourth of the Icelandic population. During the same period, the legal and social status of some Icelandic LGBTQ + people has improved vastly. Employing a queer-historical and affect-theoretical stance, this article analyzes the problematic side of this development. It traces how the national celebration of LGBTQ + people's joy has shifted the Icelandic national imaginary, strengthened Icelandic (homo)nationalism, and contributed to a forgetting and erasing of the past. While drawing some LGBTQ + people into the national imaginary, joy has excluded others, both critical, non-homonormative queers and immigrants stereotyped as at once backwards, joyless, and homophobic. This shows both the potential power of queer joy and the dangers inherent in its political use. Queer joy, if it is to have its intended effect, must be radical, intersectional, and defiantly queer from the start. Inspiration for such queer joy may, we suggest, be drawn from the figure of the queer killjoy.