Respectful Relationalities: Researching with Those Who Contest or Have Concerns about Changes in Sexual and Gender Legislation and Cultures

It has long been established that research spaces are relational. This chapter explores the ways in which research was undertaken to investigate the everyday spatial experiences of those who oppose or are concerned about new gender and sexual landscapes, including those who see marriage as between a man/woman, who are pro-life, gender critical, and/or who contest trans inclusions. It argues that research that seeks to understand polarization and division and to work across difference may be transformative, but must also carefully negotiated. These negotiations and flexibilities are necessary to create respectful relationalities between the researcher and the researched that are open to hearing and understanding complexities, contradictions, and stories. Thus, we argue that respectful relationalities can be formed through forms of feminist engagements with narratives as well as queer methodological approaches that see binaries and ‘sides’ as incongruous, fluid and continually redefined.