The potential of alternative media ecologies in countering gender and sexuality-based discrimination: A queer utopian perspective on LGBTQIA+ community news in Ireland

This study aims to foreground the potential of alternative media ecologies in countering gender- and sexuality-based discrimination. Specifically, this research builds on current scholarship in the area of queer linguistics and proposes a theoretical framework, based on the work of Muñoz (1999; 2009), which foregrounds the notion of futurity and highlights transformative and radical practices that challenge (or have the potential to challenge) problematic representations in mediated discourse contexts. The analysis uses established techniques in corpus-assisted discourse studies and draws on both textual and visual data. The discourse context under investigation is inherently ideological and the reality that is portrayed therein is contingent on a number of external factors, which include the social positions and interests of the text producers. By examining the choices that are made in the production of texts (both linguistic and semiotic), this study reveals how particular representations of the LGBTQIA+ community coalesce to endorse particular versions of progress, community, and collectivity, and highlights for whom these are most beneficial.