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Gay separatism is the political belief in and advocacy for gay male separatism. Separatism for gay men has included explicit political calls for men-only spaces; the creation of communes for gay men; and the lived social practice of self-segregation in "gayborhoods."
In the 1960s, prominent gay men opposed gay separatism. The poet W.H. Auden refused to allow his poems to be included in specifically gay anthologies and once stated, "I'm no advocate of the purely Uranian society myself. I mean, I certainly don't want to live only with queers." [1]
By the 1970s' United States, homosexual organizations split along gender lines. [2] Lesbian-only organizations, such as The Furies, and lesbian separatist literature — such as Lesbian Nation and Dykes & Gorgons — advocated for a complete separation of lesbians and gay men. [3]
Gay separatist organizations emerged at this same time. Lee Craig Schoonmaker, a longtime activist and coiner of the “pride” slogan, was a gay separatist, opposing both bisexual inclusion and gender-integration. [4] In 1969, he founded an organization called Homosexuals Intransigent! — which allowed only gay men as members. [5] Schoonmaker called women "restricting" and stated "there is no reason whatever for their inclusion." [5]
In 1979, at the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Homosexuals Intransigent! distributed gay separatist literature, entitled "Messages on the Occasion of the Washington March, October 14, 1979." [6] In the pamphlet of short writings, members of the organization advocated for gay men to live and organize separately from both straight and gay women, stating, "The time has come for a homosexual Declaration of Independence from women — all women." [7]
During the hippie movement in the United States, some gay men experimented with gay separatism through the creation of communes. [8] Many of these back-to-the-land projects were led by white gay men who were interested in fusing their sexual politics with their ecofeminist, animist, and countercultural spiritual beliefs. [8]
One such organization, the Radical Faeries, was founded in order to reject hetero-imitation. The Faeries focused on the particular spiritual experience of man-loving men (MLM) by co-creating temporary autonomous zones. [9] Faerie "sanctuaries" adapted rural living and environmentally sustainable ways of using modern technologies as part of creative expression. [10] The Faeries rejected the capitalistic and patriarchal aspects of LGBTQ+ life while celebrating eclectic constructs and rituals. [10]
LGBT historians argue the devastation of the 1980s AIDS crisis reshaped the development of gay and lesbian separatist politics. [11] Historian Douglas Crimp writes, "The AIDS crisis [brought] us face-to-face with the consequences of our separatism." [12]
Sarah Schulman, another LGBT historian, argues gay separatism in the 1970s emerged as a response to the economic oppression of gay men. Schulman writes, "Gay men were a highly oppressed community at this time... [and] resented that they could not access the full rights and privileges of men." [13] According to Schulman, however, the political coalitions and personal connections built during the AIDS crisis resulted in many gay men being "finally free to love women, to learn from women, and to listen to women." [14]
By 1995, however, the writer Pat Califia identified a "resurgence" of gay separatism, noting that in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis, the death of spaces dedicated solely to gay men represented a "threat" to their identity. [15] In the following decades, a significant number of campgrounds and cruises emerged to cater exclusively to gay men. [16] [17]
In limited instances, gay separatism has been represented through single-gender worlds in utopian fiction. The 2005 speculative fiction novel This Gay Utopia by John Butler imagines an all-male world in which both straight and gay men engage in sexual relations.
Several writers and scholars have identified literary and dramatic depictions of gay male utopias. According to writer Brian Hu, since every character in the 2004 Taiwanese film Formula 17 is a gay man, the film's cinematic world should be interpreted as a gay male utopia. [18] In 2017, the American historian Tavia Nyong'o described the play Future St. as depicting a gay male utopia. [19] Finally, the Sri Lankan writer Mary Anne Mohanraj identified the 1971 novel The Wild Boys as a gay male utopia. [20]
According to scholar Anette Myrestøl Espelid, male separatist literature is less common than female separatist fiction because many "Books written about wars or adventure stories almost exclusively feature men only, and as women were excluded from taking part in the public sphere up until fairly recent times, there is hardly any need for men to imagine a world without women." [21]
Queer is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender. Originally meaning 'strange' or 'peculiar', queer came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the late 1980s, queer activists, such as the members of Queer Nation, began to reclaim the word as a deliberately provocative and politically radical alternative to the more assimilationist branches of the LGBT community.
A pink triangle has been a symbol for the LGBT community, initially intended as a badge of shame, but later reclaimed as a positive symbol of self-identity. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, it began as one of the Nazi concentration camp badges, distinguishing those imprisoned because they had been identified by authorities as gay men. In the 1970s, it was revived as a symbol of protest against homophobia, and has since been adopted by the larger LGBT community as a popular symbol of LGBT pride and the LGBT movements and queer liberation movements.
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, and working to change legislation and public policies.
"New queer cinema" is a term first coined by the academic B. Ruby Rich in Sight & Sound magazine in 1992 to define and describe a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in the early 1990s.
Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as gay, and a number of gay men also identify as queer. Historic terminology for gay men has included inverts and uranians.
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logical result of feminism. Lesbian feminism was most influential in the 1970s and early 1980s, primarily in North America and Western Europe, but began in the late 1960s and arose out of dissatisfaction with the New Left, the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, sexism within the gay liberation movement, and homophobia within popular women's movements at the time. Many of the supporters of Lesbianism were actually women involved in gay liberation who were tired of the sexism and centering of gay men within the community and lesbian women in the mainstream women's movement who were tired of the homophobia involved in it.
LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean either "LGBT culture" or homosexual culture specifically.
Feminist separatism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's separation from men. Much of the theorizing is based in lesbian feminism.
The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride. In the feminist spirit of the personal being political, the most basic form of activism was an emphasis on coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person.
Sexual attraction to transgender people has been the subject of scientific study and social commentary. Psychologists have researched sexual attraction toward trans women, trans men, cross dressers, non-binary people, and a combination of these. Publications in the field of transgender studies have investigated the attraction transgender individuals can feel for each other. The people who feel this attraction to transgender people name their attraction in different ways.
Same-gender-loving, or SGL, a term coined for African American and African Diaspora use by activist Cleo Manago, is a description for homosexuals in the African American community. It emerged in the early 1990s as a culturally affirming African American homosexual identity.
RFD is a reader-written quarterly magazine celebrating queer diversity. Founded in 1974 as a publication for gay country-living and alternative lifestyles, the magazine has been edited by different communities in various locations since its inception; it is currently published in New England. While predating the Radical Faeries, the magazine and the movement have long been associated. Notable writers featured in RFD include the poet Essex Hemphill.
Lesbophobia comprises various forms of prejudice and negativity towards lesbians as individuals, as couples, as a social group, or lesbianism in general. Based on the categories of sex, sexual orientation, identity, and gender expression, this negativity encompasses prejudice, discrimination, hatred, and abuse; with attitudes and feelings ranging from disdain to hostility. Lesbophobia is misogyny that intersects with homophobia, and vice versa. It is analogous to gayphobia.
LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century and influential in achieving social progress for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people.
Radical lesbianism is a lesbian movement that challenges the status quo of heterosexuality and mainstream feminism. It arose in part because mainstream feminism did not actively include or fight for lesbian rights. The movement was started by lesbian feminist groups in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. A Canadian movement followed in the 1970s, which added momentum. As it continued to gain popularity, radical lesbianism spread throughout Canada, the United States, and France. The French-based movement, Front des Lesbiennes Radicales, or FLR, organized in 1981 under the name Front des Lesbiennes Radicales. Other movements, such as Radicalesbians, have also stemmed off of the larger radical lesbianism movement. In addition to being associated with social movements, radical lesbianism also offers its own ideology, similar to how feminism functions in both capacities.
The modern South Korean LGBT rights movement arose in the 1990s, with several small organizations seeking to combat sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination.
This is a timeline of notable events in the history of non-heterosexual conforming people of South Asian ancestry, who may identify as LGBTIQGNC, men who have sex with men, or related culturally-specific identities such as Hijra, Aravani, Thirunangaigal, Khwajasara, Kothi, Thirunambigal, Jogappa, Jogatha, or Shiva Shakti. The recorded history traces back at least two millennia.
The following outline offers an overview and guide to LGBT topics.
Womyn's land is an intentional community organised by lesbian separatists to establish counter-cultural, women-centred space, without the presence of men. These lands were the result of a social movement of the same name that developed in the 1970s in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and western Europe. Many still exist today. Womyn's land-based communities and residents are loosely networked through social media; print publications such as newsletters; Maize: A Lesbian Country Magazine; Lesbian Natural Resources, a not-for-profit organisation that offers grants and resources; and regional and local gatherings.
Queer radicalism can be defined as actions taken by queer groups which contribute to a change in laws and/or social norms. The key difference between queer radicalism and queer activism is that radicalism is often disruptive, and commonly involves illegal action. Due to the nature of LGBTQ+ laws around the world, almost all queer activism that took place before the decriminalization of gay marriage can be considered radical action. The history of queer radicalism can be expressed through the many organizations and protests that contributed to a common cause of improving the rights and social acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.
