En Passant

The decision to gut the Safe Schools program is another example of systemic oppression. It is the fight by yesterday’s men and women to retain the worst elements of the past. It is in this sense real reaction. The destruction of this small safe space for young people will lead to more deaths and serious mental and physical problems. How then can we fight the destruction of Safe Schools and homophobia more generally?

It was the radical politics of the Gay Liberation movement that emerged from Stonewall that set in motion the shift in attitudes on LGBT rights, explains Amy Thomas in Solidarity. It is a lesson still relevant today. To read the article click here.

Queer socialist activist, writer, and soon to be public school teacher in Boston, MA, Keegan O’Brien, responds in Jacobin to those on the left who dismiss the US Supreme Court’s historic ruling on June 26 making gay marriage the law of the land in all fifty states as at best insignificant, and at worst a step backwards. In explaining why they’re wrong he says in part:

‘When calls for radical change take the place of figuring out how to dynamically relate to people other than committed leftists, activists have created an echo chamber that only inhibits movement building. Demands to abolish marriage or smash the state may generate support from other radicals, but they remain empty slogans without the popular forces required to bring about social transformation…

‘Long-term, patient organizing may not be the revolution. But it’s the only way to get us there.’

There is an ongoing battle for Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) liberation from the oppressions faced in society because of sex, sexuality and gender. The fight against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in society involves a long history of struggle, of which many non-LGBTIQ working class people have also been a part. Films like the movie ‘Pride’ also illustrate the ways that LGBTIQ people have played a huge role in resisting the pressures inflicted on workers by capitalism. Socialist group Solidarity is holding a meeting in Canberra on Tuesday 17 March at 1 pm in Hayden Allen G50 at the ANU to discuss how the struggle of the working class in fighting capitalism can also help in the fight against homophobia. We will also consider why the fight for LGBTIQ liberation necessarily involves a challenge to the division and oppression promoted by the capitalist system.

More than forty years after Stonewall, while militant struggles by lesbians and gays have won crucial reforms, the system continues to deny real liberation, not just for lesbians and gay men but all oppressed groups.

The early Gay Liberation Front, a movement that aligned itself with those attempting to overthrow the whole rotten capitalist system, saw working class revolution as the only solution.

While the revolutionary promise of 1969 was not realised, what changed forever was the acknowledgement that lesbians and gays – alongside blacks, women and other oppressed groups – are a vital part of the working class struggle for revolutionary change. That is the legacy of Stonewall and the Gay Liberation Movement it gave birth to.

It is no accident that the Stonewall riot happened in 1969 and millions around the world stood up for sexual liberation in the ensuing years. The world was in turmoil as millions confronted war, racism, sexism and exploitation. There was enthusiasm for revolutionary change among millions. That is the political atmosphere we have to recreate. So the fight for sexual liberation cannot be separate from the struggle to rebuild a revolutionary movement to overthrow capitalism.

Gregory Storer has written on the Online Opinion controversy explaining his role and making the point in a calm and convincing manner that this was always about vilification. His very astute and sensible article is called On Line Opinion and me.

As part of the magnificent tradition of fighting back against oppression the gay and lesbian movement in Australia has organised equal love demonstrations to pressure the Gillard Labor government to recognise same sex marriage. Join us in those demonstrations.

Sherry Wolf, author of Sexuality and Socialism, is a leading figure in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual and Intersex movement in the United States. A campaigner for civil rights who has spoken across America, she has also written for publications including MRZine and New Politics. Socialist Alternative’s Louise O’Shea spoke to her about the fight for LGBTI rights in […]