Vies en rose

Preface to a special issue of Tijdschrift voor Biografie [Dutch journal of biographical studies] on "Pink lives." The author discusses the importance of biographical studies to the historiography of homosexuality and to LGBTI emancipation as well as its pitfalls. e.g. appropriation of the past ("pink washing"). Sexual orientation does not efface other dimensions of social difference, such as gender, class, religion, race or ethnicity; oftentimes, it makes them more accute. Mapping out these intersectionalities is a challenges for biographers. Another complication to take into account is the fact that (auto)biographies have been instrumental in the construction of the homosexual as a "character," since the 19th century. The traditional focus on turning points such as "coming out" should be overcome by the identification of other patterns in the lives of people who were not--or not entirely--"straight."