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When some humans are more equal than others

CAILEAN MCBRIDE welcomes a refreshing and timely study of the way officialdom creates structures that exclude LGBT+ rights and humanity

Toilet block at a park in Brisbane, Australia: the toilet block has two cubicles, both marked as unisex and accessible toilets, and a sink outside of the cubicles for handwashing. / Pic: EMsmile/CC

The Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion
Kevin Guyan, Bloomsbury, £20

 

PUBLICATION can often be something of a long game. From commission through writing to hitting the bookstands, months and sometimes even years can have elapsed. If you’re writing something even vaguely related to current events this can be bad news, especially in these days of wildly accelerated news cycles, because its topicality could have all but evaporated.

The opposite is also true, of course, and a book can be given a boost by an unexpected turn of events. And that, to an extent, is what has happened here. Given the ongoing – and often heated – public discourse on sex and gender, there was never any question of there not being an audience for the Rainbow Trap, but with its publication coming not long after the UK Supreme Court’s controversial ruling on the definition of “woman” under the Equality Act, it has suddenly graduated from a compelling read to an essential one.

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