Fakebian or Gold Star Lesbian: Homonormative Purity Rhetorics of Lateral Containment

Although many lesbians may recognize or resonate with the gold star label, its contemporary treatment as a sacrosanct standard is incredibly detrimental to queer community. As many self-proclaimed gold stars vilify lesbians whose personal identities, preferences, and labels have shifted, they propagate biphobia, transphobia, and a heavy regulation of queer multiplicity, fluidity, and ambiguity. Examining contemporary discourse across Tumblr, this article argues that, rather than stand in solidarity against the oppressive heteropatriarchy, gold star lesbians advance their own belonging by punishing, excluding, and disidentifying with non-gold star lesbians. Employing a framework of lateral containment, we examine four rhetorical strategies of gold star lesbians: identifying outsiders, dissociation from impurity, claiming victimhood, and appeals for normalization. However, our study offers an addendum to recent conceptualizations of lateral containment in its shift toward purity culture, which casts the universal outsider as irredeemably tarnished rather than in need of rehabilitation. We argue that gold star lesbianism exemplifies homonormative rhetorical functions of lateral containment, in which a vulnerable group seeking legitimacy within dominant society rejects dissident bodies to remain politically pure. Subordinate groups align themselves with their oppressors by culling perceived shared threats, stabilizing their marginal status while eroding community resistance.