Luxury and gay identity in Sitges: memory, tourism and carnival

Abstract

This article analyses the Spanish seaside resort of Sitges and its historical identity as a destination for gay tourism. The article focuses on the contribution of the carnival to the construction of Sitges as a world-class ‘gay village’. From the carnival it is possible to observe the processes of integration of the local gay community of Sitges in the gay globality associated with identity consumption and international gay tourism. Carnival celebrations are the pivot around which we can order and better understand these processes through three chronologically successive identity periods: pre-gay, gay, and post-gay. Throughout these identity periods, carnival has provided a backdrop for negotiation and conflict between competing demands and interests: residents who view Sitges as a luxury residential neighbourhood, the demands of the gay communities, and the interests of the gay and lesbian tourism industry. We will also show that the way in which Sitges treats its gay citizens has been and still is complicated and somewhat contradictory. Carnival is an ideal setting to bring some of these contradictions into sharper focus.