Queer Anti-Capitalism: What's Left of Lesbian and Gay Liberation?

Abstract

Lesbians and gays are on the verge of winning full citizenship in Canada and a number of Western European countries. This represents a remarkable change in the 35 years since the contemporary lesbian and gay liberation movement was launched out of the Stonewall riots. These gains are the product of a social movement with a strong history of militant mobilization. At the same time, the process of capitalist restructuring has opened some of the space for lesbian and gay existence. The penetration of the market deeper into everyday life has created spaces for commodified forms of lesbian and gay existence, oriented around bars, restaurants, commercial publications, fashions and hairstyles. Capitalism has accommodated elements of lesbian and gay existence in the face of ongoing mobilizations, opening certain spaces for lesbian and gay life while at the same time shutting down others. The era of lesbian/gay citizenship and commodifkation opens new possibilities for anti-capitalist queer marxist-feminist politics.

Older Gay Men and Their Support Convoys

“…These divergent relational and sexual scripts are consistent with existing research, which suggests that sex and friendships overlap for some gay men, and are distinct for others (Nardi, 1999). Post-Stonewall gay liberation and the early AIDS years were eras entrench with eroticized politics, linking sex with freedom, whereas sex has generally been situated within normatively defined relationships among assimilationists (Sears, 2005). These opposing viewpoints are shaped by individuals' biographies and timing of significant events, such as coming out (Rosenfeld, 2003).…”

Left Behind By the Alter: Why Queers and Sociologists Need Materialist Feminism

“…Other sociologists have connected the beginnings of the gay social context to the anonymity that urban life provides in the context of capitalism and wage labour (D'Emlio 1997, Valocchi 1999. Meanwhile, others argue that the commodification of gay life has negatively impacted both queer communities and activism (Kelly 2014, Sears 2005. These examples represent important work but don't represent the current moment.…”

Remaking South Beach: metropolitan gayborhood trajectories under homonormative entrepreneurialism

“…Bell and Binnie (2004) draw attention to the new 'queer unwanted', which include sex workers, those who frequent cruising grounds and spaces of public sex (Ross and Sullivan, 2012;Andersson, 2012;Hubbard, 2001Hubbard, , 2004; transgenders (Nash, 2011;Doan, 2007); LGBT people of color (Weinraub, 2011;Visser, 2008;Nero, 2005;Nast, 2002); and the overtly political/activist/anti-capitalist (Freedman, 2013;Wilkey, 2013;G. Brown, 2007;Sears, 2005).…”