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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Lesbian and Gay Liberation and Socialism: What's the Connection? - Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Lesbian and Gay Liberation and Socialism: 

﻿<br﻿>﻿What's the Connection? 

﻿<br﻿>﻿</b>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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by Gary Kinsman﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, June - July 1998﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿</center>﻿


When I was in high school I was often greeted with "commie pinko fag." Given I was gay and a socialist, it was the pinko part that perplexed me. Right-wingers often link homosexuality with socialism. What is the relation between lesbian and gay liberation and socialism?

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

While sexual activities between people of different and same genders have always been around, heterosexuality and homosexuality/lesbianism only emerged with the development of capitalist social relations several hundred years ago. These relations ripped apart feudal family-based production and created a pool of workers separated from the land with nothing to sell but their capacity to labour in the new factories and offices. In return for working for capitalists, workers received a wage that allowed some men to eat in pubs, to rent rooms in inns and to live beyond regulation by families. Some of these men organized their lives around their same-gender erotic desires and seized social spaces for themselves. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Capitalism often trapped women within the family where women reproduce the capacity of wage-workers to go to work and raise the next generation of workers. It was only with the "First Wave" of feminism in the 1800s and expanding possibilities for economic independence that some women established erotic networks with other women.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

State and professional agencies responded to these same-gender erotic cultures by labeling those of us who came to be called homosexuals and lesbians as "perverts" and "deviants." These ideas mandated the police to criminalize all homosexual activity. Lesbians faced a greater social invisibility and the denial of women's independence from men.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

In response to this "queer threat," a norm of male-dominated heterosexuality was institutionalized in the social and family policies of states - what I call heterosexual hegemony. Heterosexuality became the sexuality of the ruling class and was then enforced on the working class. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Class struggles are not only fought in factories but also on the terrain of family and sexuality. Unfortunately, until recently much of the organized working class (with some important exceptions) has fought on the same side as ruling agencies against gay men, lesbians and feminism. This has led to divisions between and among workers and the oppressed. In contrast, socialists must support feminism and lesbian/gay liberation in challenging the ruling class's gender and sexual politics.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Out of the ferment of the 1960s, gay and lesbian liberation movements emerged. Gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people - who have reclaimed the word "queer" - have fought back. The basic message of queer liberation is that we need to control our own bodies and sexualities. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Only those who directly experience oppression can initiate movements that bring thousands of people into struggle for their own liberation. This is why NEW SOCIALIST fully supports movements of the oppressed. But because autonomous movements are not enough, socialists encourage left currents in queer movements that build coalitions with other oppressed groups. We also work in other movements and groups to win support for queer liberation.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Although gay and lesbian movements, with the support of feminists and unions, have won significant gains in Canada, a deeply rooted heterosexual hegemony which is tied up with capitalism remains. The important social spaces we have seized will remain precarious and highly policed as long as capitalist and heterosexist relations continue. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Because queer oppression is rooted in capitalism and heterosexual hegemony, full liberation requires a socialist transformation of society. Socialism involves the radical expansion of democracy so that working and oppressed people can seize control over the circumstances shaping our lives. Queer liberation requires that people achieve control over our bodies and sexualities and an end to institutionalized heterosexuality.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

In order to do this socialism must also be transformed so that the important insight that workers need to control their factories and offices is extended to the need for people to control their bodies and sexualities. It is here that socialism from below and queer liberation fully come together and inform each other.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿Gary Kinsman is a socialist and gay liberation activist. He is the author of THE REGULATION OF DESIRE and a member of the New Socialist Group.﻿</font>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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