Our article is about the new relevance of the category of "the homosexual" in immigration policies. This novelty is paradoxical: while homosexuality had previously been defined exclusively in negative terms, from the point of view of the State, it has now assumed a positive value in the West--since it can be invoked to justify asylum seeking. The argument has two prongs. On the one hand, taking homosexuality into account for immigration control implies a definition of gay identity. On the other, the objects of these policies are also subjects: their own identity is caught up in this transnational process of identification. Fieldwork for this article was conducted in France on bi-national same-sex couples. However, the new categorization of homosexuality extends far beyond--in Europe and throughout the world. We argue that the politics of identity are not just, and not primarily about identity politics; they have to do both with politics in general and policies in particular.

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Les couples binationaux de même sexe pacsés naviguent en plein brouillard législatif. La loi ne dit rien du droit au séjour du conjoint étranger et il faut démêler l’écheveau des circulaires, des textes européens et de la jurisprudence qui en découle pour faire valoir ses droits. Si des représentations fortes hétéronormatives sous-tendent ces textes juridiques, elles influent surtout sur les pratiques administratives au mépris du droit à la vie privée et familiale.