Geographies of sexual and gender diversity beyond the big city: Experiences, discourses and practices in two mid-sized cities of Catalonia

The big city has been presented in the media and some academic research as the ideal space for LGBT people. Indeed, the big city is conceived as the only livable and experimental place for sexual and gender diversity, thus monopolizing the meanings of gender-generic diversity. Grounded in a study of two mid-sized cities (Girona and Sabadell) that focused on the experiences, discourses, representations and practices of LGTB people living outside the big city (Barcelona), and using qualitative data gathered in-depth interviews, discussion groups and participant observation, this paper analyzes and discusses two fundamental issues. Firstly, the links, relationships and influences between mid-sized cities and the big city in terms of sexual and gender diversity; and secondly, the construction of alterities through the relationship between the centers and urban peripheries of these two cities.