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While Gay Rights is seen by many in the Western World today as a Left-wing political issue, Sexual Minorities and Gender Variant people do not belong as a group to the Left or Right of politics. Different currents within Socialism (and within political ideologies of the right) have both opposed and supported Gay Rights , their attitudes often matching the prevailing values of the broader society. As with other issues of Sexual Politics such as Pornography , attitudes regarding sexual minorities tend to be divided along Authoritarian and Libertarian rather than right/left lines; as sociologist Jeffrey Weeks noted in 1989, a belief that homosexuality is "something to be reviled and prevented" may be one of the few political viewpoints shared by both Fidel Castro and Margaret Thatcher . Weeks, Jeffrey , 1989. ''Sexual politics'', New Internationalist magazine, Issue 201; November 1989. online text However, the Radical Left and LGBT Movements have intersected and clashed in unique ways since they both emerged from 19th century Europe. Most writers agree that historically, the Labour Movement ’s record with regard to homosexuality has not on the whole been positive, and some of the worst atrocities against LGBT people have been perpetrated by Authoritarian Communist State s. Despite this, LGBT activists have usually identified with the left, and a number of significant figures within socialism (particularly Libertarian Socialism ) who are themselves LGBT have also worked to advance the political interests of sexual minorities. THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF UTOPIAN SOCIALISM , Utopian Socialist who coined the word Feminism in 1837 and defended same-sex sexuality.]] The first currents of modern socialist thought are now often described with the phrase Utopian Socialism . Gender and sexuality were significant concerns for many of the leading thinkers, such as Charles Fourier and Henri De Saint-Simon in France and Robert Owen in Britain, as well as their followers, many of whom were women. For Fourier, for example, true freedom could only occur without masters, without the ethos of work, and without suppressing passions; the suppression of passions is not only destructive to the individual, but to society as a whole. Writing before the advent of the term "homosexuality", Fourier recognised that both men and women have a wide range of sexual needs and preferences which may change throughout their lives, including same-sex sexuality and ''androgénité''. He argued that all sexual expressions should be enjoyed as long as people are not abused, and that "affirming one's difference" can actually enhance social integration. Fourier, Charles , ''Le Nouveau Monde amoureux'' (written 1816-18, not published widely until 1967: Paris: Éditions Anthropos). pp. 389, 391, 429, 458, 459, 462, and 463. However, these ideas would be dismissed by the influential socialist thinkers Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels , who disparaged "utopian" socialists who "want to improve the condition of every member of society" and "wish to attain their ends by peaceful means"; their ideas are "phantasies, which today only make us smile." Engels, Friedrich , 1882. ''Socialism: Utopian and Scientific'', in 'Marx and Engels, Selected Works in One Volume', p. 403. Historian Saskia Poldevaart (1995) argues that: sexuality and the problematic of femininity/masculinity were disowned as legitimate issues as Marxism came to dominate. Utopian socialism's methods — changing the relationships of production as well as relations between the sexes by problematizing sexuality, the family, and the public/private distinction — were narrowed by Marxism to class struggle; utopian socialism's goal — new social relationships between people — was restricted to a new economic order and redistribution of material goods.Poldervaart, Saskia. 1995. ''Theories About Sex and Sexuality in Utopian Socialism''. In 'Journal of Homosexuality.' New York: Sep 30, 1995. Vol.29, Iss. 2/3; pg. 41 MARX, ENGELS, ULRICHS AND SCHWEITZER , German socialist arrested on a homosexual charge in 1862.]] From the earliest European homosexual rights movements, activists such as , Engels, Friedrich : ''Collected Works'', vols. 42, 43 (New York: International,1988), 43: 295–96 Known to both Ulrichs and Marx was the case of in Europe . Contemporaries of Marx and Engels, , 1870 , after being betrayed by him: “I loved you deeply and still love you, Nechaev... how deeply, how passionately, how tenderly I loved you and believed in you!”Confino, Michael (ed.) ''Daughter of a Revolutionary: Natalie Herzen and the Bakunin-Nechayev Circle'', trans. Hilary Sternberg and Lydia Bott (LaSalle, IL: Library, 1974), pp. 273, 275. THE MAGNUS HIRSCHFELD CIRCLE 's 1920s pamphlet on " Marxism and Free Love ".]] The leading figure of the LGBT movement from the Turn Of The Century until the Nazi government came to power in 1933 was undoubtably Magnus Hirschfeld . Hirschfeld, who was also a socialist and supporter of the Women's Movement , formed the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee to campaign against the law " Paragraph 175 " which outlawed male-male sex. Hirschfeld's organisation did a deal with the Social Democratic Party Of Germany (of which Lassalle and Schweitzer had been members) to get them to put forward a bill in the Reichstag in 1898, but it was opposed by the rest of the parliament and failed to pass. Most of Hirschfeld's circle of homosexual activists had socialist politics, including Kurt Hiller , Richard Linsert , Johanna Elberskirchen and Bruno Vogel . LIBERTARIAN SOCIALISM AND LGBT RIGHTS , American bisexual anarchist and 'free love' advocate.]] In Oscar Wilde 's ''The Soul of Man Under Socialism'', he passionately advocates for an Egalitarian society where wealth is shared by all, while warning of the dangers of authoritarian socialism that would crush individuality. He later commented, "I think I am rather more than a Socialist. I am something of an Anarchist, I believe." Wilde's Left Libertarian politics were shared by other figures who actively campaigned for homosexual emancipation in the late 19th century, John Henry Mackay and Edward Carpenter .According to his biographer Neil McKenna, Wilde was part of a secret organisation that aimed to legalise homosexuality, and was known among the group as a leader of "the Cause". (McKenna, Neil. 2003. ''The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde''.) Several writers have noted that in the European Left of early 20th century, where a climate of hostility toward homosexuality prevailed, most of those who supported sexual freedoms such as homosexuality were anarchists." {Link without Title} rior to World War I and into the 1920s, German anarchists — especially when compared with the Social Democrats — intervened consistently on behalf of individual self-determination extending into the sexual sphere, even though an undercurrent of hostility toward homosexuals persisted within the leftist movement as a whole." (Fähnders, Walter. 1995. ''Anarchism and Homosexuality in Wilhelmine Germany: Senna Hoy, Erich Mühsam, John Henry Mackay''. Journal of Homosexuality Volume: 29 Issue: 2/3) Free love and anarchy In Europe and North America, the , Anti-racist and feminist elements, which were seen to be incompatible with the " Scientific Socialism " of Marx and Engels. Ibid . The ''Verband Fortschrittlicher Frauenvereine'' (League of Progressive Women's Associations), a turn-of-the-century left-wing organisation led by , another German activist from the left wing of the women's movement, became heavily involved in the sexual reform movement in 1919, after World War I, and served on the board of the Institut Für Sexualwissenschaft . She also campaigned to protect single mothers and their children from economic and moral persecution. Researching the "Father of the Homosexual Movement" and the "Godmother of the Homo-Sexual Reform Movement" - The Magnus Hirschfeld society of Berlin. Across the Atlantic, in New York's anarchist Robert Reitzel (1849–98) spoke positively of homosexuality from the beginning of the 1890s in his German-language journal " Der Arme Teufel " (Detroit). European queer anarchists (who Szittya also believed to be homosexual) observed that “Anarchists demand freedom in everything, thus also in sexuality. Homosexuality leads to a healthy sense of egoism, for which every anarchist should strive.” Hirschfeld, Magnus , 1914. ''Die Homosexualität des Mannes und des Weibes'' (Berlin: Louis Marcus) campaigned for acceptance of free love, including homosexuality, in his journal ''L’en dehors''. The , another homosexual anarchist writer of the era, regularly contributed to Adolf Brand's journal ''Der Eigene'', and wrote in 1925 that Hirschfeld’s Scientific Humanitarian Committee was a danger to the German people, caricaturing Hirschfeld as "Dr. Feldhirsch". Anarchist homophobia Despite these supportive stances, the anarchist movement of the time certainly wasn't free of political theorist Daniel Guérin , who was himself bisexual, pointed out that Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , the "original" anarchist thinker, was a sexual puritanGuérin, Daniel, 1965. ''Proudhon et l’amour "unisexuel"'' in Arcadie nos. 133 (January 1965) & 134 (February 1965); see also: Guérin, Daniel, ''Proudhon oui et non'' (Paris : Gallimard, 1978). who condemned homosexuality as a bourgeois and not a working class phenomenon.Copley, Antony. 1989. ''Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: A Reassessment of his role as a Moralist.'' In: 'French History', Volume 3 no. 2 June 1989 Daniel Guérin The writings of and toward a Synthesis Of Anarchism And Communism which allowed for individual freedoms while rejecting capitalism. Guérin was involved in the uprising of May 1968 , and was a part of the French Gay Liberation movement that emerged after the events. Decades later, Frédéric Martel described Guérin as the "grandfather of the French homosexual movement."Frédéric Martel, ''Le rose et le noir. Les homosexuels en France depuis 1968'' (Paris : Seuil, 2000), pp.46 "FASCISM AND HOMOSEXUALITY" IN THE LEFT IMAGINATION
LENIN The few recorded statements records Lenin's words: "It seems to me that this superabundance of sex theories {Link without Title} springs from the desire to justify one’s own abnormal or excessive sex life before bourgeois morality and to plead for tolerance towards oneself. This veiled respect for bourgeois morality is as repugnant to me as rooting about in all that bears on sex. No matter how rebellious and revolutionary it may be made to appear, it is in the final analysis thoroughly bourgeois. It is, mainly, a hobby of the intellectuals and of the sections nearest to them. There is no place for it in the party, in the class-conscious, fighting proletariat.”Zetkin, Clara, 1934. Op Cit . COMMUNIST STATES :''See also: Gay Rights In Russia (USSR 1922 - 1991); Gay Rights In Germany#East Germany (1949 - 1990) ; Gay Rights In Cuba (1959 - present) The low point in the history of the relationship between socialism and lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transpeople undoubtedly begins with the rise of Josef Stalin in the USSR and continues through the era of Communist State power in the USSR, East Germany, China, Cuba and North Korea. In all cases, conditions for sexual minorities and gender variant people worsened under post-Stalin Communist states. Some in the West withdrew their support for Communism after seeing the severity of repression in the USSR, including gay writer André Gide .Pollard, Patrick. ''Gide in the U.S.S.R.: Some Observations on Comradeship'', in Journal of Homosexuality (ISSN 0091-8369) Volume: 29 Issue: 2/3 Historian Jennifer Evans reports that the East German government "alternately viewed sex activity as a remnant of bourgeois decadence, a sign of moral weakness, and a threat to the social and political health of the nation."Evans, Jennifer V. ''The moral state : men, mining, and masculinity in the early GDR''. In: "German History", 23 (2005) 3 , 355-370 These three characterisations imbued the policies and practises of all the Communist states, as well as those of the socialist/communist organisations that followed their lead. Productivity and uniformity is paramount in Communist states, and sexual minorities are viewed as unproductive and nonconformist; Communists generally associate male effeminacy with luxury, leisure and the upper classes. Effeminate and homosexual males in some cases have been forced into "re-education" programs involving Hard Labor , Reparative Therapy , psychotropic drugs or confinement to psychiatric hospitals. Gay writer and Cuban revolutionary Reinaldo Arenas recalled that soon after Castro's Communist government came to power, "the persecution started and Concentration Camp s were opened... the sexual act became taboo while the 'new man' was being proclaimed and masculinity exalted." Arenas, Reinaldo . ''Before Night Falls''. Penguin Books. ISBN 0140157654 Similar programs of "moral reform" were instituted in the USSR, Communist China and East Germany, as part of building a solid foundation for the new Socialist Republic s. Following the Uprising Of 1953 In East Germany , the East German government championed the traditional family, while homosexuality was seen to contravene "healthful mores of the working people".Minning, Heidi, 2000. ''Who is the 'I' in "I love you"?: The negotiation of gay and lesbian identitites in former East Berlin, Germany'', In: 'Anthropology of East Europe Review', Volume 18, Number 2, Autumn, 2000 All Communist states have banned associations of lesbians and gays, whether social or political, and have outlawed the publication of gay and lesbian materials. Often, particularly during the 1950s and 60s, lesbians and gays have been denounced, fired from their jobs, imprisoned, deported, and, in some cases, Castrated or even Executed . As in many parts of the world, conditions improved greatly for LGBT people living in Communist states through the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. China: 1949 - present See also Gay Rights In China . While traditional Chinese culture had a place for certain kinds of same-sex love and transgender behaviours, the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 marked the end of an era. The emergent "socialist" May Fourth Movement looked to the future rather than the past, and China began to adopt Western medical models that saw homosexuality as abnormal. Toward the end of the Qing era, one female left-wing revolutionary, Qiu Jin , was known for flouting convention by wearing Western male dress. She also had female lovers, and fought for women's rights. She was executed in 1907 after taking part in a failed uprising. Little has been written about LGBT rights under the socialist government of the Kuomintang . Later, following the proclamation of the People's Republic Of China by the Communist Party in 1949, repression of homosexuality became more severe. Chinese Communist leaders felt that homosexuality was a capitalist perversion that needed to be eliminated to ensure the success of the liberation of the peasant and working classes. Although no specifically anti-homosexual legislation existed, people suspected of homosexuality were subject to harsh prison sentences, forced castration, and even execution under a range of vaguely-worded laws designed to maintain social order. Anti-homosexual policies were enforced through ostracism and social programs such as compulsory marriage. In In Henan, young activists who started an AIDS orphanage have been beaten and jailed, and many people living with HIV/AIDS who have sought medical care or assistance for their children have been harassed and incarcerated. Ibid . Chinese authorities have shut down websites offering information to LGBT people, and in December 2005, a planned gay and lesbian cultural festival in Beijing was banned by authorities, resulting in a police raid. Restrictions on AIDS Activists in China , June 2005, Human Rights Watch 1945 - 1968: THE HOMOPHILE MOVEMENT — "POLITICALLY NEUTRAL" publication Mattachine Review , August 1962, with an article by Individualist Anarchist Robert Anton Wilson and another on Class Warfare .]] Post and the Dutch COC originated on the left, while the French Arcadie circle sprang from the right.Hekman, Gert, Oosterhuis, Harry, Steakley, James. 1995. "Leftist Sexual Politics and Homosexuality: A Historical Overview", Journal of Homosexuality. New York: Sep 30, 1995. Vol.29, Iss. 2/3; pg. 1 Harry Hay , who is seen by many as the father of the modern gay rights movement in the United States , was originally a Trade Union activist. In 1934 , he organised an important 83-day-long workers' strike of the port of San Francisco with his lover, actor Will Geer . Despite being an active member of the Communist Party , his founding of the Mattachine Society in the early 1950s got him unceremoniously kicked out. A few years earlier (in 1949), Marxist poet and film-maker Pier Paolo Pasolini had also been expelled from the Communist Party in Italy after being arrested for a homosexual act. Homosexuality would continue to be grounds for expulsion from most socialist and communist groups for decades. 1968 - 1985: GAY LIBERATION AND THE NEW LEFT The emergence of the . such as British and American Gay Liberation Front , the British Gay Left Collective , the Italian Fuori! , the French FHAR , the German Rotzschwule , and the Dutch Red Faggots . The Gay Lib leaders and writers also came from a left-wing background, such as Dennis Altman , Martin Duberman , John D'Emilio , David Fernbach (writing in the English language), Pierre Hahn (in French) and the Italian Mario Mieli . Some were inspired by Herbert Marcuse 's '' Eros And Civilization '', which attempts to synthesise the ideas of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud . Alhough 60s radical Angela Davis had studied under Marcuse and was greatly influenced by him, she didn't come out until 1999. In France, gay activist and political theorist who was expelled because of his homosexuality. He later joined the Front Homosexuel D'Action Révolutionnaire (FHAR), formed by radical lesbians who split from the Mouvement Homophile De France in 1971, including the left Ecofeminist Françoise D'Eaubonne . That same year, the FHAR became the first homosexual group to demonstrate publicly in France when they joined Paris’s annual May Day march held by trade unions and left-wing parties. However, many on the traditional left opposed their presence: "the Communists characteristically declared in 1972 that “this disorder does not represent the advance guard of society, but the rot of capitalism in its decline.”"Sibalis, Michael, 2005. ''Gay Liberation Comes to France: The Front Homosexuel d’Action Révolutionnaire (FHAR)'', French History and Civilization. Papers from the George Rudé Seminar. Volume 1. Socialist groups in the English-speaking world responded to Gay Liberation in one of two main ways. Some, especially those taking their lead from the Soviet Union or China like the Communist Party USA and the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) (USA) , continued to oppose gay rights and expel homosexual members. The Revolutionary Communist Party 's policy that "struggle will be waged to eliminate and reform homosexuals"Revolutionary Communist Party. ''On the Question of Homosexuality and the Emancipation of Women.'' Revolution. Spring 1988. wasn't abandoned until 2001.[http://www.rwor.org/s/programme_e.htm RCP Draft New Programme 2001 Other socialists bemoaned the perceived decline of the traditional left and the shift of focus from the Labour Movement to what they saw as middle-class "side issues", distracting from or watering down the class struggle. Many socialist organisations began to recognise "lesbian and gay oppression", but opposed any separate organising. The large and influential Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the US released a memo stating that gay oppression had less "social weight" than black and women's struggles, and prohibited members from being involved in gay political organisations. SWP and Gay Lib They also believed that too close an association with gay liberation would give the SWP an "exotic image" and alienate it from the masses. Lesbian and Gay Liberation: A Trotskyist Analysis In 1977, a group of socialist lesbian and gay activists noted that "the left, broadly speaking, has been very reluctant to support gay liberation and much of the left has actively opposed it, reproducing same of the worst antigay attitudes of straight society". ''The Last Word: Gay liberation'', by Michael Beer, Peter Biskind, Laura Brousseau, Julianne Burton, Daniel Cetinich, Leslie Clark, Stephanie Goldberg, Linda Greene, John Hess, Judith Hess, Chuck Kleinhans, Robin Lakes, Ernie Larsen, Julia Lesage, Sherry Miner, Gerald Peary, Dana Polan, Ruby Rich, Kimberly Safford, Robert Stam, Anna Marie Taylor, William Van Wert, Linda Vick, Linda Williams. Published in "Jump Cut", no. 16, 1977, pp. 39-40 text online As the Gay Liberation movement began to gain ground, some Socialist organisations' policies evolved, and a small number of groups actively campaigned for gay rights. A notable example is the feminist Freedom Socialist Party . 1985 - PRESENT New Zealand In New Zealand, the Socialist Action League was an early supporter of lesbian and gay rights. This Trotskyite organisation could be relied upon to field activists for causes like pro-choice counter-demonstrations against anti-abortion activists at local abortion clinics and supported homosexual law reform in the mid-eighties. As time went on, the SAL faded from significant active involvement, and the merged Socialist Workers Organisation now also supports LGBT and sex worker rights. There was some common cause between LGBT supporters of sex workers rights and socialists when the former upheld the right to decriminalisation and unionisation amongst sex workers. New Zealand LGBT community members tend to be centre-left and social democratic in sympathy, supporting the current Labour-led Clark administration (1999- ). There are some areas of contention, such as delays in passing transgender inclusive anti-discrimination laws, inclusive adoption law reform and pharmaceutical supply rationing policies. More recently, some 'workerist' leftists have taken to labelling anything outside traditional trade union and economic redistribution issues as 'identity politics,' while displaying profound ignorance that income maldistribution certainly is relevant to gay men who cannot afford non-subsidised protease inhibitor medication if HIV+ under the current Pharmac regime. Gay leftists find this ignorance and obliviousness annoying. United States At the beginning of the 21st century, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transpeople have greater political purchase than ever before, while the socialist/communist left is in a greatly reduced state. LGBT communities and political movements are less likely than ever to identify with left-wing politics — a nationwide Exit Poll of the 2000 US Election found that a quarter of gays and lesbians voted for rightist candidate George W. Bush , although the same poll showed that seventy percent of gay and lesbians voted for Al Gore and another five percent voted for Ralph Nader . Some sectors of the right, emphasising individual liberties rather than social conservatism, have begun to champion a Libertarian Perspective On Gay Rights ; gay groups in the US such as the Log Cabin Republicans and the Independent Gay Forum criticise the "left orthodoxy" of the LGBT movement and the perceived promiscuity and effeminacy of Gay Culture , while championing American "traditional values". The American business community has widely adopted anti-discrimination policies that cover sexual orientation, including 460 of the Fortune 500 ( As Of 2006 ).Equality Forum, “Fortune 500 Project,” October 31, 2005. However, the most vocal opposition to LGBT Rights comes from the Religious Right , and broadly speaking, the Left continues to be more supportive of sexual minorities and gender variance than the Right. The two American democratic socialist groups (the Democratic Socialists Of America and the Social Democrats ) endorsed Gay Rights as part of a larger endorsement of the policies of the Socialist International , although neither party displays such support openly on their official website. An American democratic socialist party, Socialist Party USA has run an openly gay man for U.S. president. In 2005 the Communist Party USA issued an official statement endorsing LGBT human rights at its national convention and promised to create a national party commission to address the issue, although the party did not aplogize for kicking out gay men from the party {Link without Title} . Europe After the Second World War , European democratic socialist political parties were generally sympathetic with the legalization of homosexuality in the 1960s. The United Kingdom 's decriminalisation of male homosexual sex (between consenting adults in private) in 1967 was led by a Labour Party MP and delivered through a Labour-dominated House of Commons; although the vote was not subject to the party whips, the government was favourable and granted some time for the Bill to pass. Other European nations would follow suit when Democratic Socialist political parties held power. The result was that by the 1980s most western European nations had legalized homosexuality and democratic socialist parties began to address other Gay Rights concerns. While many European Marxist political parties followed suit in the , and gay rights activists and socialists accused the Respect Party leadership of pandering to the Homophobia of conservative Muslim constituents as opposed to working with progressive Muslims and standing up for the rights of gay Muslims. Despite the row that erupted, the Respect Party website does include its official position on gay rights issues {Link without Title} . India Vimla Farooqi, of the National Federation Of Indian Women , the women's wing of the Communist Party Of India , opposed a gay conference in Bombay in 1994, stating that homosexuality was a western capitalist import. The Pioneer (daily) , 1 November 1994. The All India Democratic Women's Association , the women's movement associated with the Communist Party Of India (Marxist) , has demanded that homosexual relations be decriminalized. In 1996, a Marxist, H. Srikanth, argued at length that homosexuality was a decadent bourgeois perversion that Marxists would proscribe, try to reform by psychiatric treatment, and if these failed, would ‘not hesitate to use force against such homosexual activism.’‘Natural is not always Rational’, Economic And Political Weekly , 13 April 1996. Middle East The rise of Pan-Arab Socialism in the Muslim Middle East has viewed homosexuality as a capitalist disease and a violation of the teachings of Islam . Socialist and Communist political parties prefer to ignore the issue of Gay Rights , with the Worker-Communist Parties being the rare exception. In the Republic of Iraq the ruling Baath Party , which described itself as socialist, treated homosexuality as a crime under various laws governing indecency and made it a capital crime in 2001 . Egypt , like Iraq until 2001, said nothing about homosexuality or Sodomy in the criminal code but views homosexuality as a crime under similar laws against Satanism , spreading false religious teachings, immorality and indecency. Nepal The Communist Party Of Nepal (Maoist) claim to be recruiting homosexuals to their guerrilla forces. Philippines The Communist New People's Army gave its support to legal recognition for same-sex marriages on February 4th 2005 . The paramilitary organization performed a marriage ceremony between two male guerilla fighters {Link without Title} . The government cited such actions as proof that the Communist guerilla fighters have no moral values or a belief in God. Mexico Although the main queer political organisation of Juchitán De Zaragoza supports the dominant right-wing Institutional Revolutionary Party , '' Muxe '' ( Third Gender ) activist Amaranta Gómez Regalado campaigned as a congressional candidate in the 2003 Oaxaca state elections on a radical left-wing platform, becomg the first transgender person to run in a Mexican election. Venezuela ''See main article: Gay Rights In Venezuela '' EXTERNAL LINKS
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