From: "Rebecca Peoples" <wellsfargo-AT-tinet.ie>
Subject: M-I: Gays & lesbians
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 1998 13:23:31 -0000


Hi Bob, Hugh and others:

Below is the piece already sent to you on gays and lesbians in revised form.
I have revised it in light of the interesting discussion on the subject with
Bob, Hugh and others on the list. I would like you to tell me what you think
of it now:

Lesbians and gay men
Under capitalism general sexual oppression still exists, especially for
women and youth.  Capitalism has also given rise to the systematic
oppression of lesbians and gay men. Capitalist society, whatever liberal
gestures it has proved capable of in periods of prosperity, is inherently
anti-homosexual.
The ideological and economic centrality of the prevailing form of the family
for capitalism means that any groups who undermine the monogamous,
heterosexual "norm" of the bourgeois family are regarded as a dire threat to
society and stigmatised accordingly. The fact that lesbian and gay sex is
openly non-reproductive is a threat to the legitimacy of the bourgeois
family.
Under capitalism lesbians and gay men have been systematically denounced,
abused and criminalised.  This has led to sexual misery for millions of
individuals and fomented harmful divisions within the working class.  The
bourgeoisie through the manipulation of education, the media, religion and
the legal system, and with the connivance of the trade union bureaucracy,
promotes the idea that homosexuality is "unnatural'.
A deep rooted fear of homosexuality (homophobia) is the norm.  This
homophobia often creates the basis for active, and frequently violent,
anti-lesbian and gay bigotry in the working class.  However, the proletariat
as a whole has no material or fundamental interest in maintaining lesbian or
gay oppression or in perpetuating ant-lesbian  and gay bigotry.
Lesbians and gay men suffer discrimination in all spheres, including legal
sanctions.  Whilst this oppression affects lesbians and gay men of all
classes, it is again working class lesbians and gay men who are most acutely
affected.  Oppression affects employment opportunities.  Men and women who
are openly homosexual are less likely to get work, will be isolated and
abused at work, and are more likely to lose their jobs, their homes and
their children.  Unlike oppressed members of the ruling class, working class
lesbians and gay men have no alternative but to seek work.  Consequently
they are frequently forced to deny their sexuality, suffering the
psychological damage that such denial and suppression produces.
The working class must fight for an end to all legal discrimination against
lesbians and gay men.  This is a basic democratic right.  The state should
have no rights to interfere in people's sexuality where consenting
individuals are concerned. Discrimination in every sphere-including
employment, housing and custody of children-must be fought. legal rights
should be campaigned for and defended by the working class.  The state must
be made to provide information about sexuality in schools without
proscribing homosexuality as generally happens today.  Religious anti-gay
bigotry must be swept out of the classroom. The above demands must be fought
for on a revolutionary basis.
The revolutionary party must fight for the right of working class lesbians
and gay men to caucus within organisations of the working class in order to
fight against homophobia and for full political and social equality.
Revolutionaries will fight for political leadership in  relevant united
front organisations to win lesbians and gay men to the programme of lesbian
and gay liberation and revolutionary socialism.
The systematic oppression of lesbians and gay men will not be ended whilst
the bourgeois family is promoted and defended as the model for social life.
That is why the struggle to end this form of oppression must be linked to
the programme for working class power.



Warm regards
Rebecca




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