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ISSN 1446-4896

Early gay liberation owed at least some of its theory to the sexual radical writers Wilhelm Reich and Erich Fromm, who developed Sigmund Freud's theory ot polymorphous perversity. Many early gay liberationists believed a child is born with an infinite potential for sexual development {i.e. was polymorphously perverse), therefore the aim of the gay liberation movement should be to do away with sexual categories.

What developed was quite different. The very success of the movement in making it possible for huge numbers of people to come out made it possible for these many people to develop open communities. The development of these communities and a positive self image as gay or lesbian fed and reinforced each other.

With the demise of the massive challenges to society from the anti-war mobilisations accompanied by the black, women's and lesbian/gay liberation movements, as well as flower power and the drop out phenomenon, gay men, lesbians and tranys managed to continue the movement's momentum, which not only hasn't stopped but has survived the political as well as physical threat posed by the AIDS epidemic.

Sydney is typical of this process. The early response to AIDS was only possible because of the actions of self-identified gay men and lesbians. Research earned out by Macquarie University has definitely proven that men who identify as gay and see themselves as part of a gay community (and this is not restricted to the gay ghetto), have a higher self-esteem and adopt safer sex practices much more readily than non-identifying men who have sex with men.

Significantly in many countries, including in much of Africa, where HIV infection takes place primarily through heterosexual practice, it is gay men who organise a collective response to AIDS and provide the foundation for a social and governmental response to the epidemic.

There is much to be said in favour of men and women who identify as gay and lesbian.

In Sydney we have people within our communities who have taken up the banner of polymorphous perversity again. While paying lipservtce to the value that identities have played so far, they claim that categories are created by our oppressors and that therefore we should go beyond identities.

This form of extreme social constructionism, also called "transgender" by transgender activists, is essentially flawed. (Note that this is not an attack on tranys, but a rebuttal of "transgender' theory.) To quote Jeffrey Weeks:

"The 'sexual outlaws' of old have constructed a way of life, or more accurately ways of life. which have reversed the expectations of sexology. They have disrupted the categorisations of the received texts and have become thinking, acting, living subjects in the historical process. The implication of this is that the modern gay identities...arc today as much political as personal or social identities.They make a statement about the existing divisions between permissible and tabooed behaviour and propose their alteration. These new politicas subjectivities above all represent an affirmation of homosexuality, for by their very existence they assert the validity of a particular sexuality.

This surely is the only possible meaning of the early gay liberation idea of 'coming out' as homosexual, of declaring one's homosexuality as a way of validating it in a hostile society. Arguments that this merely confirms pre-existing categories miss the point. The meanings of these definitions are transformed by the new, positive definitions infusing them. The result is that homosexuality has a meaning over and above the experience of a minority. By its existence the new gay consciousness challenges the oppressive representations of homosexuality and underlines the possibilities for all different ways of living sexuality. This is the challenge posed by the modern gay identity. It subverts the absolutism of the sexual tradition" (p.200-201)

Or, as David Halperin (another social constructionist) puts it: "...sexual boundaries do not merely constrict possibilities; they also create possibilities: they describe zones of freedom, pleasure, and erotic excitement" (p.53.)

It follows that to try and destroy identities is a reactionary project which is particularly dangerous for us gays and lesbians. Halperin hits the nail on the head when he writes: "...the project of freeing us to embrace a 'natural sexuality' seems to be a coercive one, and in our immediate situation it can only serve the cause of repression by fortifying the ideological division between 'good' and 'bad' sexuality" (p.53.}

This is an anti-gay and ant-lesbian project, whether it's intentional or not. Once again gay men and lesbians are being told that they are not wholesome individuals because they 'restrict' their sexual practices to people of the same sex only. (It is at this point that the alliance of polymorphously perverse 'non-identifying' tranys and anti-gay 'identifying' bisexuals starts to make sense.)

Not that this stops non-identifying tranys and identifying bisexuals from making claims on the community (which is built on identity.) To Quote Jeffrey Weeks again:

"The more extreme constructionist view tends to reject the value of a fixed identity and to glory in the subversive effects of alternative lifestyle and a plurality of sexual practice, in breaching the norms of sexual orthodoxy. The irony is that in practice [it is] dependent on the growth of the subculture and the enhancement of a sense of self in recent years. Without the historically conditioned rise of the new gay communities and the 'modern homosexual' the debate about the merits of a homosexual orientation or preference would be irrelevant. And without the new sense of community and identity it would scarcely be possible to indulge in the joys of 'polysexualitics'" (p.200.)

The basic problem with this polymorphous perversity theory, which is an extreme form of social constructionism, is that it misunderstands the implications of social constructionist theory (which I subscribe to). First, it is wrong that because some people do have sex with both sexes, therefore it follows that all of us should (be able to) do so. Nor are we necessarily free to 'choose' without reference to existing categories. Even the notions of 'bisexual' and 'transgender' are historical developments. Greenberg puts it succinctly when he writes: "...the epistemological observation that alternative systems of classifying people are possible has little relevance to those who are now classified as homosexual. Had I been born in a different country or different era, my ideas would no doubt be different from what they are now, but that doesn't mean that at the snap of the finger I could begin thinking like a Hindu or a medieval Frenchman. The modern western system of sexual classification is embodied in social identities, roles. institutions, and ways of life that can hardly be abolished by an arbitrary act of will" (p.492-493.)

In other words we can't just walk out of history! (Marxists who have embraced polymorphous perversity woud do well to reflect on its idealism and voluntarism.) That is precisely what the partisans of polymorphous perversity seem to be blissfully ignorant of (or perversely refuse to acknowledge) - social processes and historical movement. This is only to be expected from people who subscribe to the theory of post-modernism, which is at the heart of queer theory.

The building of gay and lesbian identities did not happen simply because some people felt like building a "discourse". Discourse did not create identities; history did, social developments did. It took over a century of struggle to break away from the strait jacket of medical definition to a positive identity. In those decades we have been declared sinners, criminals and sick. We have been killed, jailed, discriminated against, looked down on, kicked out of our homes, hospitalised, lobtomised and electrocuted. We were taught to hate ourselves, to seek moral, religious and medical help, to deny ourselves. We are driven to seek self-destruction through many means, one of which is suicide. In spite of all this, countless gay men and lesbians have struggled to painfully build up a positive self-image. They have risked popular and public derision, hatred and persecution, but, still, they managed to build communities and sub-cultures and organised political resistance. No small accomplishment. We've turned our hated homosexual categorisation on its head and declared that GAY IS GOOD!

Given the world we live in, driven by exploitation, which is the foundation for sexism, racism, heterosexism and all oppression, and is the real reason behind war, it's a bit premature to act as if we have achieved Earthly Paradise, and to talk about sexualities as if there was no sexual oppression, as if thereforr all sexualities are equal, despite the fact that heterosexuality is privileged in our society.

The issue is not whether sexuality is fluid or not, nor about the diversity of sexual practice and expression. It is about real oppression of homosexuality. Queer/ post-modernist discourse chooses to ignore this reality. Thus one queer activist in Sydney could even state that the changes in terminology from camp to gay to queer are a matter of changing "fashions". I suppose that is why kids are hounded out of their schools. Poofter bashing is also just a fashion?

To diffuse ourselves into an all inclusive queerness that is insensitive to or ignorant of oppression and resistance, or into an undefined pansexuality, is literally to dissipate our hard won achievements. That will constitute an act of self-destruction. To employ another 'water' term (in line with fluidity), queer/ polymorphous perversity/ pansexuality consitute a theory and politics of liquidation. This we must reject.

Queer politics exploded on the scene as a potentially radical, progressive renewal within gay and lesbian politics. Quite rightly, particularly in the USA, the new radical movement pointed at the conservative, assimilationist and accommodationist attitude of the incumbent gay and lesbian leadership. But it wasn't long before this movement foundered on the same reefs as the early gay movement. The queer movement fragmented over the politics of gender, race and class.

IN THE USA, while the queer movement, in theory, was inclusive (particularly of lesbians, people of colour, and at the very least sympathetic towards working class and socially disadvantaged gays and lesbians), in practice it proved to be quite exclusive. It didn't take long for it to become predominantly white and male. In fact according to Peter Drucker, "people of color have in fact been made to feel literally unsafe in Queer Nation meetings. Issues of racism and sexism have been key to Queer Nation splits in several cities.'

Queer Nation also chose to attack the ghetto as oppressive. And yet, ironically but typically, it fed off that ghetto, from which it drew much of its constituency.

In practice, unlike ACT UP, Queer Nation (to give it a generic name), with only a few exceptions, proved incapable of building up coalitions with other groups, movements and communities - working class, coloured or women's.

Queer theory emphasises "diversity" and 'difference', neither of which concepts should be problematic. However in queer theory these concepts become in the first place anti-gay/lesbian ("gayness" is assumed to be homogenous, uniform, white, male, middle class). Secondly it separates gay/lesbian oppression from the material roots of that oppression. The result is that while 'mainstream" gay/lesbian labor activism, for instance, is steadily growing, Queer Nation has done next to no such work.

The rhetoric of "difference" is also about opposing identity politics. According to Judith Butler, guru of "queer theory", queerness should be: 'resistance to classification and to identity as such.' She declares: "I 'come out' only to produce a new and different closet." Judith Butler is being touted as a new feminist by some queer activists in Sydney.

IN THE UK queer politics devolved into two separate and opposite directions. Outrage, the UK's most well-known queer organisation, shifted to the right. It voted 27 - 3 to dissolve all its subgroups which included people of colour, disabled, Lesbians Answer Back In Anger (LABIA), and working class.

The excuse given was that the groups cost too much and distracted from the fight against homophobia. LABIA spokeswoman charged that: "We have been thrown out of Outrage."

Another organisation, Homocult, while not self-characterised as queer, typifies the sectarian, ultra-left of queer politics. Homocult is anti-identity, anti-ghetto and anti- movement.

While Outrage denies progressive issues outside a narrow, sectarian understanding of gay and lesbian liberation (sic), Homocult denies any political agenda and approach which is specifically gay/lesbian. While much of its criticism of vested interests n the ghetto is justifiable, it goes way beyond expressing class interests within the movement. "By its very nature," claims Homocult, " the [gay and lesbian] movement is anti working class." Both in theory and in practice Homocult is anti-gay/lesbian.

Queer politics promised so much. It could have played an invaluable role in reasserting radical politics in the gay and lesbian movement. Instead it has spun out of control. While, given its fragmentation, there probably are quite a few queer groups which are doing very good work, it is probably also true to say that in many, if not most, instances, queer politics has become a destructive force.

Sources:
Drucker, Peter. 'Gay Liberations Second Wave: What is Queer Nationalism? in Against The Current. USA March/April 1993.
Wockner, Rex. 'British Group Nixes POC" in BLK, USA Vol.4 No.3.
Homocult. 'Classy Queers" in Rouge. UK Issue 12 1993.

Recently, there has been an increase in violence agaisnt gays and lesbians in Mexico. In the following interview, reprinted from the Canadian (a Trotskyist) paper, the Socialist Challenge -July/August 1993, a founder of the Mexican gay and lesbian rights movement, Yan Maria Castro, discusses the background to the current attacks and looks at the history of gay and lesbian organizing in her country.

How did you get involved in the lesbian and gay movement?

The first step was coming to understand how the world functioned according to Marxist philosophy. Another was to incorporate feminism as a component of this ideology. My direct and indirect participation in the worker's, farmworkers', native peoples', womens', anti-psychiatric and ecological movements led me to see the need for a sociopolitical struggle. I am not involved in the lesbian and gay movement because "I believe in" lesbianism or homosexuality but because I believe in a free and conscious sexuality which is only possible in a free and conscious society.

I and a friend founded the first lesbian group in the country in 1977 because we realized that there was nothing to protect us from social oppression.

What can you tell us about the murder of gay activists in Mexico?

Murders of individuals from the homosexual community are very common in Mexico. They have been on the increase since the middle of 1991, and they have begun to specifically target people involved in the lesbian and gay movement - two leaders of the movement have been murdered.

On Jury 12, 1992, when Dr Francisco Estrada and Xavier Rivero were murdered, there was a very weak response, partly owing to fear of making public statements. Then, Naftali Luis Ramirez - leader of the transvestite gay movement in Chiapas - was murdered. Eyewitnesses to that murder have suffered beatings and jailings.

It is a serious error to isolate the violence agaisnt lesbians and gays from the social reality in our country. As a lesbian with an open perspective, I am not exclusively concerned with the murders of homosexuals. There is a great deal of violence in the state of Chiapas, which is the southernmost point of Mexico where that country meets the rest of Latin America. There is a terrible exploitation in that state and violent repression of farmworkers and native peoples as well as exploitation of the thousands ol Guatemalan refugees who live there.

Currently, the Mexican state is selling itself to multinationals and for this it has to eliminate all opposition, the homosexual movement has always been a thorn in the side of the Mexican state, which feels it harms the country's image.

You have spoken elsewhere about two separate periods in the history of the homosexual movement in Mexico.

The first period, between 1978 and 1984, was one of mass movements. This was followed by a grey area of decline in 1984 to '85. The second period after 1985 has been one of isolated, low profile groups. During the first period, the movement was 'out' but this is not the case in the second period.

In this period, people have basically worked in the homosexual communities with little participation or presence in Mexican society at large. In the first period, we had no funding while now most of the groups depend upon funding and do not work without it.

In the first period, the movement was deeply political. We wanted to take power, not only of the institutions but also of our own minds and sexuality. Now we are reduced to providing public assistance of various kinds.

This entire discussion is limited to Mexico City and the surrounding district and there is a big archive there on the history of the homosexual movement in Mexico.

The first period was created from nothing. Groups influenced by the German sexual theorist Wilhelm Reich and also by the feminist movement played a role. But we had to create our own model for action in a Third World context.

Nonetheless the intuition of many of the movements' leaders with roots in the left or union activities enabled us to organize a demonstration of 5000 people in 1980. Our intuition led us to participate in many other social movements in public and national struggles.

This opened up social spaces, we were connected to society. We may have been looked on as odd or rare, but we were visible. Indeed, we ignored certain gay spaces because we were opposed to being isolated.

How did other groups respond to the movment?

Obviously, thousands of years of political oppression cannot be erased in a few years. But the fact is that when we supported other struggles people accepted us even tf they hated us in the beginning. The mere presence of a fag or dyke was repulsive and shocking in Mexican society - the equivalent to the devil turning up in the flesh. But since we were there and remained there and they saw us fighting alongside them, little by little they accepted us. The process was interrrupted in 1982 and has not continued and Mexican society has sunk back into homophobia.

An important moment was when several lesbian and gay groups entered one of the country's min churches with banners for a memorial service for Oscar Romero, the murdered archbishop of El Salvador.

What is the attitude of Mexican political parties to lesbian and gay issues?

When I left the country, neither Cardenas nor his party, the min opposition party, the PRD, had made any mention of lesbian and gay issues. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is a dictatorship with civilian characteristics. Its only principle is money, corruption, power so it can transform itself into anything. If for example, the PRI felt that the PRD was in some way defending freedom of sexual choice as part of its democratic program, the PRI might attempt to coopt the homosexual movement and might possibly create some systems of tolerance for certain sectors of the homosexual community.

The Mexican right is represented by two political parties - the PRI and the ultr-right PAN, which represents the most traditionalist parts of Mexican society. PAN does not accept many of the PRI's more liberal proposals such as sex education, including those dealing with AIDS and HIV. They detest women's liberation because it threatens the family. Their line is that the only way to avoid AIDS is not to have sexual relations with anyone other than your husband or wife. Like the church, PAN's outlook fosters violence against lesbians and gays.

Although I am not a Trotskyist, I value the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT - Mexican section of the Fourth International) for its consistent support of our movement. The PRT was the first party to declare its support lor the lesbian and gay movement and it has continued to put forward their demands in its program with or without pressure from the homosexual community.

What role did members of the Mexican gay end lesbian movement play in the changing of attitudes in Cuba toward gays and losbains in the early J980's?

1980 was a significant year for the lesbian and gay movement in Mexico. It was so powerful that political parties were forced to recognize it as a political force. Therefore, the leftist parties which had ties to Cuba and the Cuban Communist Party influenced the Cuban government so that it would show some interest in the lesbian and gay movement.

We began to pressure these parties so that we might engage in talks with the Cuban government -but all these attempts were frustrated and halted in 1982, with nothing to show for our efforts. There were some informal talks between members of the Mexican movement and some mid-level bureaucrats from within the Cuban government, but nothing official.

To those reactionary sectors of the movement which constantly attacked socialism, citing the Cuban example, we replied that we recognized that there is repression against homosexuals there - and that we fight this position of the Cuban government - but that we are willing to defend the Cuban revolution with our lives.

How do you believe the lesbian and gay movement in Mexico should develop?

I feel that the lesbian and gay movement must unite with other social struggles. I have always been opposed lo a movement that is isolated from other social struggles. The lesbian and gay movement must be within all struggles against all forms of oppression, exploitation or segregation. A sign of the possibilities was seen in Mexico in 1980 when different union groups of lesbians and gays came together to work out a program for their unions.

The group, La Red Lattna Lesbica y Homosexual del Continente Americano, can be contacted by fax at their Los Angeles office at (213)660 3566.
GAY MURDERS IN MEXICO

Murders of gay leaders and transvestites continue to occur throughout Mexico. The Mexican government has said it will not protect transvestites unless they are dressed like men. insinuating that it is OK to kill homosexuals if they are visible. Of the 23 known murders of gay men in Mexico in 1992 most were shot by the same type of weapon, a high caliber gun.

The police for years have been openly harassing gays and Mexican gay leaders say that the killings have been part of a pattern of right-wing violence against gay and AIDS actrvists. They claim that the police and Mexican Army are involved in the killings. Amnesty International and the ILGA both urge letters to Presidente Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Palacio Nacional, Mexico, D.F.. Mexico, requesting a speedy and serious investigation into the murders.

GALLAN stands lor Gay and Lesbian Labor Activists Network. It is an organisation which involves gay men and lesbians in issues of economic justice, organising around union struggles and helping build solidarity between the gay and lesbian community and the unions in California.

Instances of such work include a campaign in 1989 to support and organise a grape boycott in solidarity with farmworkers concerned with the use or pesticides known to cause cancer and birth defects. Gays and lesbians formed part of a large coalition called 'Allies for the 90s: United for Health.'

GALLAN's work proves to be fruitful for all concerned: workers and gay men and lesbians. Such solidarity helps break down barriers between workers communities and the gay and lesbian communities. Besides, as Ed Hunt and Tess Ewing, members of GALLAN, explain: "There are few if any of us (gays and lesbians) who have not. at some point in our working lives, experienced some form of mistreatment from an employer."

In 1992 GALLAN got involved with support for a boycott of Miller products, organised by the Teamsters Union. Burke Distributing, the employer of the Teamsters Union Local 122, was attempting to get rid of certain safety protections, and cut medical and retirement benefits which could be used by HIV+ workers as well as workers with other ailments.

GALLAN was approached by the union and asked for support. GALLAN undertook to organise support within the gay and lesbian community. Teamsters and GALLAN members leafletted a number of bars.

Conservative gays, spearheaded by some bar owners and a couple of gay papers, IN and Bay Windows, spread the rumor that some bar patrons were intimidated by Teamsters.

GALLAN, having been involved in the leafletting, refuted such accusations.

Speaking of the false stories in the gay papers, Ed and Tess said that they were not surprised, considering that IN was a bar paper financed almost exclsuively by the area bars. Of Bay Window, which also showed extremely anti working class prejudice, they pointed out that the gay and lesbian community that it (like IN) claimed to speak for is made up largely of working people.

They also pointed out that not only do stereotypical phrases such as "burly Teamsters" and "straight unions" reflect a deep seated anti working class prejudice, but they also make gay and lesbian unionists invisible. They added that there are plenty of queer Teamsters as well as gays and lesbians throughout the supposedly "straight" unions.

Organisations such as GALLAN show up the fact that even within the gay and lesbian communities there are some very fundamental divisions, particularly of class, race, and gender. Certainly many gay men and lesbians often have more in common with working class straights than with 'gay' businesses out to make a buck off our backs.

Such organisations work within the spirit and politics of gay and lesbian liberation, placing the struggles for our liberation within the context of the larger struggle for social justice for all the oppressed.

For quite a few years progressive gay men and lesbians have been organising within unions. Not only have they been active in getting unions to adopt anti-discrimination policies, but they have also been involved in solidarity between gay and lesbian communities and union struggles. An important breakthrough was made in the great miner's strike in 1984 - 85.

Strong ties were built between gays and lesbians and the miners and their families.

With the latest attacks on miners in the UK gay and lesbian support is being organised again.

The following two letters appeared in issue 12 (earlier this year) of the British gay socialist magazine Rouge:

Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners groups are forming in Manchester and Liverpool. In Liverpool the initiative came from women associated with the News From Nowhere bookshop..They are planning a benefit and publicising support for the miners....

In Manchester a group formed the evening following the regional day of action, march and rally. A handful of us had previously promoted lesbian and gay support for the miners by leafleting outside pubs and clubs...and by making a glamorous and highly immodest banner. About 400 people marched behind LGSM's banner, making us one of the largest contingents after the miners. Not all 400 were lesbian or gay, many others wanted to walk behind our banner because it represents something they respect and endorse. They were welcome!

Manchester is also planning a benefit, leafleting and a public meeting with speakers from the National Union of Mineworker and Women Against Pit Closures. Lancashire NUM executive committee has unanimously welcomed LGSM twinning with Parkside Pit...Billy Pye..who sits on the national executive committee of the NUM, told us that the support of the lesbian and gay community needed no introduction. "The support that you gave the miners in 1984 is legend throughout the coalfields. There are few miners who don't know about the South Wales miner's minibus with the pink triangles."

The Parkside miners are depending totally on the NUM and the public, if they are going to win their battle...

Support is there. It's hard to find anyone who doesn't support the miners. Let's hope that support transforms to victory. We"ll be there.

Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners was relaunched with a public meeting at the London Lesbian and Gay Centre...The meeting was attended by people from the original LGSM of 1984 -85 and it was decided to use the original LGSM name for the new campaigning organisation which will once again support mining workers in their fight to keep the pits fully operational.

Neath, Dulais and Swansea Vallet have now been shut down. But the recent threat to close a further 31 pits, announced by Trade and Industry Secretary Michael Heseltine, has led LGSM to contact Tower and Betws pits in a neighbouring Welsh valley, which are included on the list of ten threatened with imminent closure. LGSM will once again be offering support for whatever action the miners decide to take to defend their jobs and to keep coal on the energy production agenda.

The original LGSM banner was located and dusted down for the mass demonstrations in support of the miners in London last October and LGSM will be collecting money for the campaign to keep the pits open.

Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners

(Rouge can be obtained by writing to : BM Rouge, London WC 3XX, UK. Subscriptions: Individuals 22 pounds, organisations 44 pounds.)

We heard with grave concern that the German Government plans to close down the gay and . lesbian counselling service in Berlin. Our membership protests vehemently such reprehensible action.

We do not see that closing down the centre is justifiable. Wc think that your government's resources would be put to better use controlling and containing the far right violence perpetrated against gays, lesbians, Jews, immigrants and other minorities.

Closing down the service, and other similar actions, including the draconian restrictions against migrant workers, will not appease the far right. In fact it encourages them. Your government's policy is penalising the victims.

We urge your government to reconsider the closing down of the gay and lesbian counselling service. We ask you to do this both in the name of human rights generally as well as for the sake of the survival of democracy in your country.

CURRENT NEWSLETTER AND ARCHIVE OF PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS

Mannie has a personal web site: RED JOS: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM

Mannie's blogs may be accessed by clicking on to the following links:

MannieBlog (from 1 August 2003 to 31 December 2005)

Activist Kicks Backs - Blognow archive re-housed - 2005-2009

RED JOS BLOGSPOT (from January 2009 onwards)

This page updated 18 SEPTEMBER 2014 and again on 26 APRIL 2017

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