iSSN 0951-8657. Published by Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. © 1995. All rights reserved. Printed by Newsfax International London E15. THROUGHOUT the world this week, lesbians and gay men celebrate the birth of a movement for liberation on the streets of New York in 1969.
The radical times which gave inspiration to those early protests have long gone but the lesbian and gay movement is established in a way few expected. In the 1970s, Pride marches in London mustered a few thousands at most. The 1990s have seen marches of tens of thousands and festivals of 150,000. The 1993 march on Washington attracted upwards of one million US lesbians and gays.
Gains
The movement for liberation of "a love that dare not speak its name" has its own TV and radio programmes. Anglican bishops now confront the reality of gay clergy. Two weeks ago, a High Court judge affectively called on the Ministry of Defence to lift the ban on lesbian and gay servicepeople. Lesbian Chic leaps from the pages of market-leading women's magazines. Pop stars consciously cultivate ambiguous sexual images.
Meanwhile, most lesbians and gay men struggle to make a living and continue to suffer both open and indirect discrimination in all walks of life. Most will continue to "pass' as straight for some of all of their lives. Lesbians can still expect to lose custody of their children. We still have every reason to fear loss of job if we come out at work, still have every reason to worry about being 'queer-bashed' in the street.
Big gains have been secured in the labour movement. Policy victories and self-organisation have marched hand-in-hand in the trade unions and in the Labour Party. The path to changing the legal inequality which makes our lives insecure and which both reflects and strengthens popular homophobia is clear.
Ideology
No Tory government is going to reverse its ideology to conferences over 11 years of campaigns by LCLGR - the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights. There is the grass roots and trade union support for such a move. There are MPs who understand it matters.
Does this mean Labour has the will to legislate for lesbian and gay equality. Certainly, we can point to a depressing list of betrayals by Labour MPs. But what is the alternative? The autonomous struggle of lesbians and gay men is essential - but it needs a political objective. No Pride march, however large, will change the law on its own. On the other hand without Pride marches reflecting the existence of a mass movement for justice, politicians won't move either.
Lesbian and gay socialists will recognise the prize that there is to be gained with a Labour election victory. Only a sustained and substantial campaign up to and beyond an election can expect to produce the results.
LCLGR is running such a campaign, based around a "Manifesto for Lesbian and Gay Equality". Winning massive public backing for this campaign is the best way both of winning action from Labour and of winning lesbians and gay men to active involvement. • LCLGR's "Manifesto for Lesbian and Gay Equality" is launched at Pride and available for 60 pence (inc. p&p) from LCLGR, PO Box 306, London N5.