The Future of Queer Futurism: A Critique of Lee Edelman

PHOENIX, AZ.

“Politics compels us to experience reality in the form of fantasy, one that assures the coherence of identity.” Almost every theorist knows both these words and the person who wrote them; the starting sentences of No Future, written by none other than Professor Lee Edelman. 

Professor Lee Edelman, of Tufts University, has long championed the idea of queer futurism, or a future where queer people are able to reproduce without the inherent harms a society brings upon them. Basically, the idea of queer futurism is one that finds queer people reproducing without fear of persecution. In today’s political landscape, however, there seems to be nothing more out of reach than this utopia. 

For this understanding of queer futurism and subsequent critique, I draw upon the works of poet and PhD candidate Cavar [sarah], philosopher Michel Foucault, Professor Lee Edelman himself, and author Alison Kafer’s work Feminist, Queer, Crip. I define reproduction as the idea that queer people are making new queer generations, or that queerness continues to live on in the future. 

Professor Lee Edelman deserves the benefit of the doubt, however, as his magnum opus work, No Future, a 2004 novel released with Duke University Press, explores how the bounds of society, as well as the politics involved in societies around the world, create implications upon racialized and disabled people, not to mention queer people themselves. The time period, however, must be taken into account; No Future was published during a time of optimism regarding advancements in the American Gay Rights Movements. In fact, from 2000 to 2004,  Vermont became the first state to recognize civil unions, Lawrence v Texas allowed for the constitutionality of sodomy, and Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage. 

The issue with the continuation of Dr. Edelman’s theory is the extreme shift in policy away from queer liberation, and contemporary interpretations draw conclusions about his work regardless of the inclusion of modern-day politics. In fact, in Cavar [sarah]’s 2024 novel Failure to Comply, the unnamed narrator, I, lives in a dystopian society, headed by RSCH, an organization that mandates wellness and Truth, an analogy that exemplifies Cavar’s experiences as Mad, Crip, and Queer in times after No Future was released. Furthermore, this shift away from more liberal policies, especially within the last five years, reflect a few key issues with Dr. Edelman’s work overall, including a lack of incorporation of modern policy.

The idea that queer reproduction in critical theory implies that regardless of policy, generations of queer people will erupt. This is simply not true.

Policymaking in the real world has perhaps the most important effect upon whether reproduction can even occur. At Dr. Edelman’s highest ground on reproduction, especially considering the implications of No Future, the idea that policymaking would not affect queer reproduction simply fails to acknowledge the hundreds of years of persecution against people who do not conform to societal standards. As perfectly exemplified by Alison Kafer’s Feminist, Queer, Crip, policies surrounding Queerness constantly come into the foreground of a utopia, or of an ideal existence. 

In order to appropriately combat the idea that reproduction will occur regardless of policy, one must first look towards the ideology of communities of care – essentially, while queer reproduction can occur in an ideal society, the current policy changes, especially ones that oppress and incite violence against Queer and trans youth are often the end of reproduction. As an example, the AIDS epidemic, often referred to as the “gay disease,” severely impacted the coming normalization of Queerness, thus forcing younger Queer students back into, colloquially, the closet. Communities of care, overall, allow for Queer reproduction. 

Essentially, Queer elders, especially those who are openly and flamboyantly Queer, are necessary in order to best create communities where queerness can be observed in a positive light, especially if the continuation of a disregard for policy can be taken into account when discussing the theory of Queer Futurism overall. Thus, the only way that Dr. Lee Edelman’s theories in No Future, specifically upon reproduction, can be proven to be true only if communities of care surrounding Queer youths are first normalized and maintained.