Socialism and the Struggle for LGBT+ Equality

Since the Stonewall rebellion in New York City in 1969, there have been great strides forward in achieving equal rights for LGBT+ people. However, even today, many of us face discrimination and sometimes violence. We have seen large-scale protests expressing anger and rebellion—that had been building up for years and decades—against the exasperating interference of a system that not only forces you to struggle daily to make ends meet, but also claims the right to decide what you can or cannot do in your private life, who you can have a relationship with, sexual or otherwise, whether you can raise a child, etc., and subjects anyone who departs from the norms of the so-called “traditional family” to a social and legal ghetto.

With their mass base and demands for liberation, these protests have within them an intrinsic revolutionary potential. At the same time, there is a conscious attempt to reduce these issues to a question of culture and to limit the goals of the movement to fighting for small concessions that are compatible with the normal—i.e., oppressive—functioning of capitalism. What is the revolutionary way forward for LGBT+ workers and youth?