Why have Marxist/Stalinist/Maoist regimes all presecuted queers, while capitalist culture has seen the growth of queer culture?
******
Because each of these regimes, with varying degree of ferocity over the track of their histories, were totalitarian.
One of the characteristics of totalist governments is the creation of a halo around the idea of family which means to state propagandists, invariably, a hetero model.
One nation. One folk. Hearth, home, motherhood, duty. All typical tropes.
There is no room within such a narrative for same sex unions.
Indeed, homosexuality, associated within many minds with licentiousness, can be interpreted as a subversive state of being, a selfish turning away from commitment to the micro family of the home and the macro family of the state.
Why a greater space for 'queer culture' in capitalist societies?
"All that is solid melts into air."
Captial adapts and adapts again. The maneuvering room for political and social action Westerners enjoy relative to other societies, combined with Capital's willingness to sell goods and services to any demographic that seems worth the trouble of marketing to equals a more robust and above ground queer culture.
The constantly destablizing effect Capital has upon societies should not be underestimated. It is one of the primary force vectors keeping a space for queer expression open. 'Will and Grace", to cite a brain-dead example, exists not only because NBC was convinced that Americans are sufficiently 'tolerant' to accept the program, but because advertisers were convinced the audience, presumably composed of many Gay folks, is worth selling to.
This is a counterbalance in some ways to the efforts of folks like Falwell and other theocrtic-totalitarians.
DRM
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com