From: Michael_E_Jackson-AT-brown.edu
Subject: Re: Re: AUT: AGAINST CONSERVATISM--FOR COMMUNISM
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 4:47:00 -0500


I thought the piece was OK when I read it, though I was a little sketched out by the whole "prison culture" part. But then again, I automatically substituted "homophobia" in my mind when I read the word "homosexuality." 

I think we should promise to discuss the rest of Floyce's piece once we clear this whole thing up. I mean, I really, really strongly disagree with what he said, but it's a bit of a different situation from, say, that guy last month who'd wandered onlist and was going off about immigrants being potential terrorists.

First off: Floyce, you can't just extend a critique of "liberal gay-rights organizations" to a condemnation of "homosexuality;" that's like extending a critique of the upper bureaucracy and mission statement of the AFL-CIO to a condemnation of workers. It makes no damn sense and betrays a blindness to the history of struggle. At best, you come across as opportunistically preying on the homophobic sentiments of many w-c folks in order to make your own proposed solution sound more appealing. I'm sorry, but the case for communism is plenty strong without that bullshit.

I'm fascinated to explore this, though, so stick around a minute. 

1. What do family/kinship structures look like in the communist society you most prefer to envision? 

2. In what ways would queer lifestyles undermine these structures?

3. What are your thoughts on the 1919 abolition of anti-gay legislation in Russia? On the 1934 re-introduction of such legislation on the grounds that "only a good family man could be a good Soviet citizen"?

4. Do you think that children raised in ruling-class families are more likely to turn out gay/lesbian/bi/trans/etc. than children raised in working-class families?

5. Explain (if I'm remembering your argument correctly) how the mass incarceration drive of the past 30 years has caused an increase in the acceptance of queer lifestyles. 

mj



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