The narrow victory last November of the reactionary Proposition 8, which denies the right of same-sex couples in California to marry and enjoy equal protection under the law, sparked a militant response by tens of thousands of supporters of equal marriage rights in cities throughout California and across the United States.
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The upsurge in resistance that has taken place since the passage of Prop. 8 is not a new development or unique in the history of struggle for civil rights and equality for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people. In fact, it is an intensification and continuation of the 40 years of struggle that have taken place since the uprising in 1969 of LGBT people in the rebellion known as Stonewall. Since Stonewall, in spite of massive campaigns of bigotry, hate-mongering and outright violence directed against LGBT people, the struggle has continuously advanced.
Given the fact that homophobia and anti-gay bigotry have been so globally enforced, and so widely supported and promoted by all the institutions within class society over such a long and protracted period of time, the changes that have been created in the last 40 years constitute a truly singular historical achievement, born out of continued militant resistance and unshakable determination against all odds.
The 1969 Stonewall Rebellion sparks movement
The Stonewall uprising that began on June 27, 1969, in New York City was a shot that rang out around the world. It marked the arrival of the modern mass movement for equality for the LGBT community.
Many courageous individuals prior to the Stonewall rebellion raised the banner of gay liberation, including Magnus Hirshfeld, the German socialist, who defined gay oppression according to the Marxist science of historical materialism. He saw gay oppression as a development of class society.
Many individuals and organizations in the United States fought for social justice against the vicious anti-gay witch-hunts and persecutions that took place before Stonewall.
But a mass movement for LGBT rights came into being, and history was made, when, in response to another routine police raid, the crowd that was gathered at the Stonewall Inn said, “no more,” and fought back ferociously against the police. For several consecutive nights, hundreds of LGBT youth gathered in the streets of Greenwich Village, fighting with rocks and bottles, marching and chanting, “Gay power!” and “We want freedom!”
Today, the struggle for LGBT rights continues to advance. There are millions of LGBT people who refuse to go back into the closet, who continue to stand up and fight back. Through their steadfastness and determination to struggle on so many different levels throughout society, they have created, in just four decades, a profound shift in consciousness. From the days prior to 1969 when even the subject of “homosexuality” was considered out of bounds and dangerous ground, to the present where millions have stood up to be counted, it is an outstanding achievement.
Now over 40 percent of the population supports equal marriage rights for same-sex couples and nearly 70 percent of the people of the United States support measures that would guarantee some form of basic civil rights to same-sex couples.
When the Republicans launched their insidious but successful effort to place anti-gay referendums on 13 state ballots during the 2004 elections, all of which were successful, liberal naysayers and hand-wringers used this as evidence that the ultra-right was able to take advantage of deep-seated bigotry and also that such bigoted campaigns would enable the neo-conservatives like George Bush to retain their hold over governmental authority, including the White House.
Instead of standing up to this right-wing effort, liberal Democrats drew the conclusion that LGBT rights were a liability and that the Democratic Party needed to distance itself from the struggle for LGBT equality.
Far from falling back or retreating from the struggle, the LGBT movement has ignored right-wing offensives and the admonishments from bourgeois liberals who have shown themselves to be vacuous and bankrupt when it comes to combating reaction on this and other issues. Instead, LGBT people have fought back. There have been victories for same-sex marriage rights in six states. Right-wing anti-gay proposals have been defeated in both houses of Congress.
The all-important question is: How will the movement overcome the defeat represented by Prop. 8 and its validation by the California Supreme Court?
Up until now, it has been the militancy of the LGBT community in all parts of the country that has put the issue of marriage equality on the agenda and pushed it forward. By contrast, the course prescribed by bourgeois liberals in 2004, to hide from the truth, to downplay the struggle, to try to make the movement acceptable to the right wing is a sure-fire prescription for defeat.
Why did Prop. 8 pass?
Prop. 8, funded with millions of dollars and a carefully constructed media fear campaign, is based on the idea that the majority can nullify the rights of a minority by popular vote. Upheld by the Supreme Court of California, the question now is, who might be next to have their rights “voted away” in a future wave of right-wing propaganda?
How could a reactionary piece of legislation such as Prop. 8 pass, however narrowly? The Prop. 8 debacle can be best understood by taking a look at the state of the LGBT movement and its leadership at the time of the emergence of Prop. 8.
Over the past 20 years, and after the massive and historic upsurge marked by the Stonewall Rebellion, signaling the beginning of the mass struggle for LGBT equality, the Democrats eventually reversed their long held policy of open hostility and of trying to ignore and hold back the growing movement for LGBT equality.
After the Stonewall uprising and the great first historic march on Washington in 1979, they switched gears and began to design a strategy of appearing to embrace the movement in order to co-opt and curtail it. Over the years, their message gradually evolved into, “Count on us. We have a plan. Sit back. Let us handle it.”
Their plan in reality was not to take up the fight for LGBT rights at all, but rather to contain, control and paralyze the movement, in order to maintain the status quo.
Beginning about 20 years ago, newly emerging self-appointed LGBT leaders and organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign and others, virtually turned over control of the movement to the Democratic Party and worked tirelessly to contain the struggle within the confines of what they viewed as a pragmatic electoral strategy based on lobbying and appealing to the Democrats for action.
What did that strategy yield? More of the same.
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, trade unions, leading women’s organizations, and other progressive movements, including the major LGBT organizations in the United States, poured millions of dollars into getting Democrats elected. After the Democratic Party’s defeat in the November elections, California Senator Dianne Feinstein—a self-described friend of the LGBT movement up until then—attacked the same-sex marriage movement for acting “too fast” and “too soon.” Democratic politicians hurried to blame John Kerry’s loss on the marriage equality movement, leaving LGBT activists shocked and angry.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton broke his promise to lift the ban on gays in the military, coming up instead with the insidious “don’t ask, don’t tell”—which is really a stay in the closet policy—that is still in effect to today.
While harping again and again on the obvious evils of Republican Party bigots in order to win LGBT and progressive votes, the Democrats actually helped to keep discrimination alive. In 1996, when the Republicans initiated the infamous “Defense of Marriage Act,” President Bill Clinton once again capitulated to bigotry and supported DOMA because he felt it would assure his reelection.
President Obama, who promised in his campaign to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and to lift the ban on openly gay and lesbians in the military, has done nothing at all regarding what has become the civil rights issue of the times. While the struggle for marriage equality surges ahead, with states around the country addressing this issue, the Obama administration has broken his campaign promise and come out firmly on the side of bigotry. The Department of Justice, in a reactionary defense of DOMA in a California court case, argued that same-sex couples should not be granted equality because same-sex marriage is not a civil rights issue.
Instead of standing up firmly against Prop. 8 in California, the vast majority of Democrats in California remained silent and let the bigots have an unchallenged field day. On a federal level, in spite of demands for action on marriage equality as well as the dramatic shift in public opinion towards favoring same-sex marriage, nothing has happened.
The LGBT movement leaders who controlled the campaign against Prop. 8 went along with the Democratic Party plan of silence, discouraging and even trying to forbid mass actions and community efforts to counter the bigotry being broadcast everywhere by the pro-8 forces. All communications were handled by a giant Madison Avenue-style public relations firm. Ads against Prop. 8 were scarce, avoided the word “gay” and never showed photos of same-sex couples and their families. This elitist fear of the LGBT community and a total lack of confidence in the electorate contributed to the passage of Prop. 8.
Prop. 8, or any law that promotes discrimination and inequality, is not in the interests of workers, LGBT or straight. It weakens common struggle by promoting division instead of unity.
Inequality and divisions amongst the working class are not natural. They are consciously promoted and enforced. The capitalist system relies on racism, sexism and homophobia to keep the working class divided instead of united, to maintain their rule and exploitation of the working class and continue to control the wealth that the workers produce. As such, inequality can only be overcome through struggle.
The leaderships of the Republican and Democratic parties are in reality top-tier administrators of the capitalist system. Only a movement that is independent of the Democrats will win concessions from the capitalists and secure marriage equality for all.
The time is now for full equality
After the passage of Prop. 8, the movement surged into the streets. The paralyzing control of the Democrats and their corresponding LGBT “leaders” was shattered as the streets filled with outraged people from all walks of life. As with Stonewall and countless times before, the rebellious spirit was back and unstoppable.
Outraged and angry, demonstrators marched and chanted, demanding action, speaking truth to power. LGBT leaders, firmly against demonstrations and acts of resistance prior to the vote, have been pressured from rank-and-file activists to endorse demonstrations and actions that initiate dialogue with workers in their communities and work places.
It will be crucial that marriage-rights activists continue to act-up, fight back and organize everywhere. Actions such as speak-outs; meetings with unions, workers, neighborhood groups and religious organizations; and demonstrations big and small are necessary to sustain the current momentum.
It will also be important in the struggles to come that the LGBT movement reach out to other movements for social change and justice. Direct action in solidarity with union struggles and with others struggling for equality against racism and sexism, such as attacks on affirmative action, on immigrant rights and on women and reproductive rights, are necessary to building unity and to overcome the historic isolation that the LGBT movement, as a relatively new mass movement, has had to overcome due to previous centuries of oppression and persecution.
Conversely, all other movements for civil rights and justice need to stand together with the LGBT community at this time. It is not only correct to do so, it is in the interests of everyone to close ranks and support the right to marriage equality for all. An injury to one is an injury to all.
Predictably, there are voices of so-called moderation who are fearful of the new militant movement that is developing. Wanting to establish “respectability” with the capitalists, they are trying once more to stop the upsurge and the momentum.
Attempting to re-direct the movement back into the suites and away from the streets, Democrats and their messengers in the LGBT movement are currently trying to undermine specific proposals for action, such as an immediate struggle to overturn Prop. 8 in California and for a National Equality March on Washington that has been called for early October of this year.
A return to such strategies of asking politely instead of fighting back would once again put the brakes on what is currently a resurging movement that has the potential to force change out of the hands of the capitalists.
At this historic moment, all support for the struggle for LGBT rights must be strong, loud and clear. No human being is illegal. Nor is love between any two persons. The fight for marriage equality must and will go on until every battle is won.
