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This article argues that, while representations of tragic lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) histories are disseminated widely, positive aspects of the past must be largely pushed out of the cultural imaginary to support a vision of the present in which sexual rights and freedoms have been achieved. It proposes that this view relies on a linear progress narrative wherein the experiences of LGBTQ people are held as consistently improving over time. In considering the construction of cultural memory through popular media and art, it claims a nostalgic turn to the past as a useful political tool for dismantling the pacifying aspects of the present. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]