[lbo-talk] "Stupid Gay Men on the Left"

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Fri Jul 2 23:18:00 PDT 2004


Grant wrote:


> > Seriously, if we were in the sort of *revolutionary* conditions that
>> would make it *absurd* to be pressing for equal rights to marriage
>> and employment as workers...
>
>Seriously, yes, the US left is not in a "revolutionary condition"and
>--- my personal sympathies for same-sex rights and unemployed rights
>aside --- it never will be as long as it spends so much time on
>issues which are marginal to the vast majority of wage earners.

Very few parts in the world are anywhere near revolutionary conditions. Venezuela may be the only potential exception right now. In any case, whether the world is in revolutionary conditions has little to do with who is spending how much or how little time on the question of equality between straights and queers or anything else for that matter. There is no revolutionary condition in the Netherlands either, where GLBT individuals already have the rights that GLBT individuals are still struggling for here and elsewhere and therefore do not have to spend much time on such struggles except to defend the past gains if they are challenged and press for more where equality is still lacking.

Anyway, you are straight, so if you don't care about equality between gays and queers, your status explains it and protects you from any consequences of indifference.


> > and our allies were *clamoring* for
>> outright *abolition* of marriage and wave slavery,
>
>Considering how many proletarians are married and/or believe in
>recieving wages for wage labour, I don't think that will ever happen.

Then, why bother to talk about "diminished expectations," etc., if you think things will always be the way they are now? This is merely a rhetorical question, so you don't need to answer it.


> > I'm sure that
>> those who are arguing for Kerry now would be arguing for Nader or his
>> equivalent, while I wouldn't support Nader under such conditions.
>
>Assuming that elections were the main avenue for revolutionary change?

No. I'm saying that today's Nader-bashers would be pushing for something like electing a Nader-like figure or some such absurdity if they encountered revolutionary conditions that would make such a thing obsolete. -- Yoshie

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