When Donald Trump’s top two White House officials, Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus, appeared together at the American Conservative Union’s CPAC conference the other day, Bannon (the big ideas member of the duo) outlined the top three priorities or “lines of work” of the administration: The first is kind of national security and sovereignty and […]
18 Sep
As the Pet Shop Boys acutely observed, “love is a bourgeois construct,” so same-sex marriage (or “marriage equality”) has always seemed to me to be a bit of a double-edged sword — both the removal of one of the last legal forms of discrimination against LGBTIQ people and the integration of same-sex couples into a historically […]
17 Aug
Let’s get something clear right away — same-sex marriage has not been and will not be the kind of issue that could destroy Tony Abbott’s prime ministership. Electorally, despite overwhelming popular support for equal marriage rights, it has consistently been a lower-order issue in terms of votes. And within the party room Abbott is on the […]
13 Aug
Comments Off on Sexy Capitalism
Sexual and gender oppression is inherently connected to capitalist society, and Left Flank regular Simon Copland has just started crowdfunding his book project on this topic. You can hear Simon discuss his book and make a donation to his campaign, on his page with ByLine. About his book Sexy Capitalism documents the role that capitalism has on sexual and […]
15 Jul
Comments Off on Sex and society (6): Liberation or Equality?
Welcome to the sixth and final blog in the Sex and Society series. Over the past five blogs we’ve looked at the growth of the nuclear family, its connection to class society, and how the oppression of women and queers manifest today. Last time we looked at love and marriage — how our modern manifestations […]
29 Jun
Comments Off on Sex and society (5): Love & marriage
Welcome to blog five in my sex and society series. Today we will ask the question, what’s love got to do with it? Over the past four posts I’ve spoken extensively about the connection between the nuclear family (whether gay, lesbian, straight or other) and our class and capitalist society. But, how does that connect […]
19 Jun
Comments Off on Sex and society (4): Capitalism & gay oppression
I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative. This statement by British Prime Minister David Cameron was heralded by many as a major win for gay and lesbian people. Lesbian and gay rights had now, it seemed, moved away from being a narrow concern of […]
07 Nov
As I wrote previously, Stephen Fry was under fire earlier this week for making comments regarding women’s sexuality. Subjected to condemnation, he left Twitter and nothing further was heard from him. Since then he has published a piece on his website, explaining himself: I suppose the keenest disappointment I feel about the past week and the almost […]
04 Nov
Stephen Fry has quit Twitter. Some are saying that his tweet, “So some fucking paper misquotes a humorous interview I gave, which itself misquoted me and now I’m the Antichrist. I give up.” and his subsequent, “Bye bye” is a “hissy fit”. Maybe. We’re all entitled to bad behaviour. I also wonder if it is a reaction […]
27 Oct
I know many readers will have seen this already. For those who have not, don’t have the sound too loud in a public place. Language warning for those with sensitive ears. Pure joy warning for those who want to see some straight talk about gay marriage and equality. FCKH8.com Straight Talk About Gay Marriage from FCKH8.com […]
26 Feb
Comments Off on Trump, Bannon & ‘deconstructing the administrative state’