LGBT History Month began from an education campaigning
organisation called ‘Schools Out’, inspired by a group in the
However, the history of LGBT liberation is also intertwined with the fight for socialism and goes back nearly a hundred years. Bolshevik Russia, for a period, effectively legalised homosexuality being the first country in the world to do so. Although this was reversed under the Stalinist regime in the thirties, it gave a glimpse of how socialism could advance the fight for LGBT equality. In 1918, the communist party in Germany, inspired by socialist revolution in Russia, argued for full equality for lesbians and gays. However, the socialist revolution in Germany was defeated and years later, the gay and lesbian community was defenceless as tens of thousands were sent to the concentration camps alongside socialists and Jews.
History is extremely important, but we need to take that knowledge to advance the fight for LGBT liberation and the fight for socialism. With the recent introduction of civil partnerships for same-sex couples, the equalisation of the age of consent, and the abolition of the notorious ‘Section 28’ amongst other legal reforms, you could be forgiven for thinking that the LGBT community now enjoys equality and the struggle is almost complete. Unfortunately this isn’t true and homophobia is alive and well in workplaces, in schools, and on the streets. This prejudice is a feature of the capitalist system whose ideology is used to justify the existence of a privileged elite. Anger is diverted against the effects of the capitalist system into racism, sexism, homophobia and other divides in an attempt to disguise the real division in society, between the millions and the millionaires.
We need to counter these divisions with the call for unity of working-class people and youth into a mass movement for decent jobs, homes, and services. The case for LGBT liberation needs to be taken to the trade unions, universities, schools and workplaces with the call for genuine equality for the LGBT community and against homophobia. Socialism, based on ordinary people planning society for the benefit of the majority, will remove the cause of discrimination and oppression. Only then will the LGBT community enjoy genuine equality, rather than the "equality" that we see today.
LGBT History Articles from other parts of the CWI: