complacency ed between lesbians and gay men and par- men have been selected as Ml's and
Lesbian and gay rights in the labour movement Last year the Lesbian and Gay Movement won major successes at the TUC and Labour Party conferences. THERESA CONWAY, a lesbian militant in NALGO, reviews the achievements and the problems facing the movement. IN 1985, lesbian and gay rights hit the headlines at the TUC and Labour Party conferences, with comprehensive resolutions passed at both. Behind this success story is a long period of campaigning in the lesbian and gay movement and the labour movement.
Over the last few years, lesbians and gay men have become more vocal in demanding that the labour movement recognize our existence and heed our demands. We have made a series of alliances, most often with other oppressed groups but also with those sections of the left who have come to accept the significance of our struggle. The development of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) and Lesbians Against Pit Closures (LAPC) both represented and created enormous changes. Since the growth of a radical lesbian and gay movement in this country in the early 1970s there have been lesbian and gay banners on every lal picket line and demonstration. But never before has there been the same breadth of support and solidarity among lesbian and gay people for an industrial dispute. T'his is partly explained by the nature of the miners' strike itself.
The existence of LGSM and LAPC made visible the support of lesbians and gay men which would otherwise have been hidden in an assumed heterosexual solidarity movement. The groups were able to demonstrate that it was possible to fight the NCB, at the same time as challenging discrimination against lesbians and gay men; and so draw into activity a layer of people who would otherwise have been distanced from the strike.
It was not just the activities of lesbians and gay men that were different, but the response of the labour movement. Previously lesbian and gay contingents had been met
with verbal and sometimes physical abuse.
Thes attitudes did not disappear instantancously. But the depth of the struggle
made people from the mining commanies more receptive to new ideas. 'The length of 16 the strike and the development of the twinn-
ing system meant that strong links were forg licular communities. Many people welcomed our solliarity with open arms, while being ready to admit their initial fears and prejudices.
Needless to say that openess and willingness to change was most marked among the women and reflected the nature of their own radicalisation during the strike
It was not only at this love! chat our solidarity was welcomed. The NUM leadership, notably Peter Heathlekd, welcomed lesbian and gay support as a valid and valuable contribution to the struggle. That stance was crucial in holding back a reacfionary response from the base and in encouraging those who supported us. It was true that the acknowledgement could have been more prominent and that Women against Pit Closures went further than the NUM itself. Nevertheless the fact that it happened at all is a tribute to that section of the NUM leadership.
'The motion passed at the
TUC will not, indeed cannot, be fully
implemented unless there
Ware lesbians and gay men
organising to do this work.'
While the significance of LGSM and LAPC should not be underestimated, it is important to understand that they were part of a more general process. Over the past few years lesbians and gay men have become more visible and organised within the Labour Party. They have built a strong national organisation, the Labour Campaign for Leshian and Gay Rights (LCLGR) which was able to organise for the debate at party conference. We have fought to have our needs taken into account in the drawing up of manifestoes to fight council elections Together with sisters and brothers in the trade unions we have persuaded some Labour councils to adopt comprehensive equal opportunities policies and others to add sections on sexuality to existing agreements. In some places the demand has been raised for the setting up of lesbian and gay subcommittees of the council as an ongoing forum for consultation with lesbians and gay anen in the community. In some connels worker: hare been appointed in attempt !e implemen chess policies. Lesbran and pay centres, switchboards and other reories
have been given grants. Lesbians and gay councillors.
Many of these changes have occurred because of the hard work of lesbians and gas men; but some of the doors on which wr have knocked have been less firmly bolted than befose. The Labour left which developed after cectoral defeat in 1979 understood that the working class did not comprise only white heterosexual able bodied men, and that therefore the Labour Party needed to reach out to the doubly oppressed. It is not surprising that it was in many of the places where the left held sway that lesbian and gay rights were taken up. The same places set up womens committees, and took initiatives around disability or race. Indeed it is in the field of equal opportunities generally that the face of local government has been most dramatically transformed over the last five years by the rise of this left. There have been difficulties and problems. It is not possible to take up in detail here the debates that have arisen over questions such as Heterosexism Awareness Training. But it is important to acknowledge that such controversies have arisen because we are moving very rapidly into unchartered territory — with inadequate discussion as to what we are trying to achieve. Lesbians and gay men are beginning now to confront the argument that heterosexism is based on ignorance not on privilege. We have to explain that our oppression is not accidental but is a fundamental part of this society, with its sexual division of labour in the family and in the workplace. Undoubtedly as these debates develop they will lead to new differentiation both within the lesbian and gay movement and among our allies.
Despite these limitations, the action of Labour left leaders such as Livingstone and Benn have been crucial in legitimising lesbian and gay rights as an issue for the labour movement. They have had a similar effect to the attitude of the NUM leadership. The fact that the GLC increased its popularity despite its prominence in taking up the issue gives the lie to the notion that lesbian and gay rights is a vote loser, as does the election of a number of open lesbians and gay men. Certainly a whole layer of younger activists who came into politics during this period are firmly rommited to advancing lesbian and gay rights, while not always very sure of hon to carry through this perspective.
In the trade unions too, there have been big changes. From the carly 1970s onwards lesbian and gay caucuses were set up pardeglaly in the white collar unions These
International. No c Jammary/februn 19026
were able to intervene into trade union conferences, get some basic policy passed and launch useful propaganda campaigns - for example the campaign to get the unions to boycott places such as Scarborough who refused to let CHE, a prominent lesbian and gay organisation, hold its conference there. These groups did build links with sections of the left particularly around issues such as the content of education in the teaching unions or the treatment of lesbians and gay men by the medical profession. They laid the basis for actions such as the strike by NUT members against the sacking of John Warburton who was dismissed for telling the children he was teaching that he was gay, or similar actions by NALGO members after Tower Hamlets council sacked lan Davies.
One of the most significant breakthroughs came with the developments in NALGO. Until 1983 the situation was similar to that in other unions. But in 1983 the London District made a decision to organise groups whose meetings would be open to any member facing a particular discrimination. Thus a lesbian and gay group, along with a women's group and a black members group were set up as an officially sanctioned part of the union structure.
The 1983 union conference took place in Douglas on the Isle of Man where all gay male sex is illegal because the 1967 Sexual Offences Act dines not apply. NALGO organised the submission of motions to conference saying that it was incompatible with NALGOs existing policy on lesbian and gay rights to organise its national conference in such a place. They also organised a large protest demonstration from the Conference to the Manx parliament.
That autumn a national conference for lesbians and gay men throughout the union was organised which was supported by the National Equal Opportunities Committee and therefore had the seal of approval of the General Secretary. The conference claborated a detailed policy motion for submission to the 1984 Annual Conference. 11 went much further than any previous motion passed by NAIGO or any other trade union in detailing the steps that should be taken at all levels in the union to combat discrimination. But perhaps most significantly, it established lesbian and gay groups as an official part of the unions structures to be encouraged and consulted.
The fruits of this victory have ben evident. NALGO has produced a national campaigning pack on lesbian and gay rights which is available to every branch and every member. A number of schools have been organised at district level on fighting discrimination against lesbians and gay
Three national conferences for lesbians and gay men have been organised which have been advertised in union publications and through letters to all branch secretaries. NALGO was involved both at the Womens TUC and the TUC itself in the debates on lesbian and gay rights. At the same time, through that official support, NALGO les bian and gay groups have developed at branch and district level so that there are far more lesbians and gay men contributing to International, No. :. Jamar/Pebnan 1986
E the discussion on policy than in any other union.
But again this process has its limitations. Developments in London are far more advanced than elsewhere, and this creates difficulties in taking forward the discussion. The right wing in the union has always been hostile to these developments, and is now feeling strong enough on the NEC to begin to challenge them.
Regrettably the gains made in NALGO have not been repeated elsewhere. The motion passed at the TUC will not, indeed cannot, be fully implemented unless there are lesbians and gay men organising to do this prejudice. work. The National Association of Probation Officers which submitted the motion has only just affiliated to the TUC and is just developing an equal opportunities structure. NALGO will obviously be heavily involved but cannot take on the full responsibility The LCLGR understands that it has a role to play in the trade unions but this area of its work is very underdeveloped. It will be necessary for LOLGR to grasp this nettle, and to find ways of working with existing trade union lesbian and gay groups if the achievements of 1985 are to come to fruition
We must not be complacent. Lesbians are losing custody of their children daily in the courts solely because of their sexuality. Gay men and lesbians are harassed by the police, including by agents provocateurs, and this will increase further with the new Public Order Bill. The Customs and Excise have attacked Gays the Word and other bookshops. preventing the sale of literature which presents positive images of lesbians and gays. And the press hysteria around AIDS has increased harassment of lesbians and gay men in the workplace and on the streets.
DEFEND DiTH WILLIAMS I FOR GAY RIGHTS AT WOF
The question of AIDS provides a fairly ac-
curate marker as to where we have got in the
labour movement. On the one hand the left
bureuacracy has taken some steps to raise the health and safety issues and the question
of resources in a crumbling health service
which are raised by the disease. But they
have been extremely reluctant to confront directly the way lesbians and gay men are being victimised by other trade unionists. Some good literature has been produced particularly by NALGO and NUPE, but it is necessary to go beyond this and into the workplace to confront ignorance and
The period of achievement in local government was one when the left in the labour party was on the ascendant and seemed united. The disintegration of the struggle against ratecapping, the victory of the Tories over abolition and now Kinnock's attacks on the left make further gains at this level much more difficult. The defeat of the miners strike has had profound implications for every single political struggle. Over the next period, leading up to the general election there will be increasing pressure to drop 'fiinge issues' and concentrate on returning Labour at all costs.
The task of defending the gains of lesbians and gay men in the labour movement is a task that the left has to take on board, as part of an alternative strategy to that of Kinnock Implementing Labour Party and TUC policy should be raised through every trade union branch, and in every constituency Labour Party. Lesbian and gay rights has to be more than the flavour of the month, it has to be understood as an integral part of the struggle for socialism. 17
- Tragedy and farce
TIM RIGBY & NICK WOLFE THE FINANCIAl deal concluded in Vovember between Liverpool city council and the Swiss banks represents an enormous defeat for the struggle waged in the city against Toryunposed spending limits. Whatever criticisms should be made of the role of the city council and its Militant leadership, there is no doubt where the primary responsibility for this defeat lies — with the Labour and trade union leaderships who did everything in their power to sabotage the Liverpool struggle, and with the leaderships of the other rate-capped and heavily penalised councils, who with the exception of Lambeth, capitulated to the Tory attack when the crunch came.
The response of the 'soft left' within the parry to the NEC: enquiry into Liverpool District Labour Party is a disgrace. For whether or not expulsions directly result from the enquiry, the whole exercise is a witchhunting one, which will prepare the ground for expulsions at a future date. Whether they like it or not. Tribune and the Labour Co-ordinating Committee are complicit with the witch hunt. Socialists within the party must now close ranks to defend the Liverpool Labour Party. Having said that, there are important criticisms to be made of the role of the city council; many of them stem directly from the limitations of Militant's political line and conceptions of class struggle. The first phase of the struggle The Militant-led Labour Group took control of the council in May 1983. They inherited a disastrous financial situation from the Liberals. Since 1979, Liverpool, one of the most deprived cities in Europe, had lost £270m in government aid. Thus the council were faced with a situation in which they needed either to raise the rates by 170 per cent, or make cuts totalling 5000 jobs — or alternatively to fight. To their credit they decided to fight.
Substantial job losses would have been a disaster for Liverpool; already the Liberals had cut 4000 jobs in the city since 1979. The response of the council was to make a deficit budget for 1984/5, which, however, involved ¿ 9 per cent rate rise.
When the council made their first budget in April 1984 there could be no doubting the cnormous popularity of their stand. On the day that the council decided the budget, the streets of the city were thronged with tens of thousands of workers demonstrating their support for open defiance of the Tories. In the May 1984 council elections, with a third of the seats being contested, Labour increas ed their representation from 51 to 58 seats against a combined total of 41 for the Liberals and the Tories.
The budget which had been set was andoubtedly illegal, and could have been challenged as such in the courts. But in the spring and early summer of 1984 the cam. 18 paign against rate capping was getting into
198 Liverpool Labour councillors on the march The