LGBTQ

Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual rights

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Germaine Greer, student politics and the left

To a casual observer, it might seem incongruous that a campaign to prevent a prominent second wave feminist speaking on a university campus would be led by the women’s officer of the student union. But this is typical of the world we live in, and of student politics in the English-speaking world in particular. The second wave feminist concerned is Germaine Greer, who was invited by the University of Cardiff in the UK to speak on the topic of “Women and power: the lessons of the 20th century”. The campus women’s officer, Rachael Melhuish, initiated a petition calling for the university to...

Greer, “no-platforming” and trans-inclusive feminism

Students at Cardiff University recently started a petition demanding that Germaine Greer be banned from speaking at the university. They have, as a result, brought the opposing political perspectives of trans-exclusive radical feminists, and queer and trans activists into the public eye. Greer is rightly criticised for a long history of transphobic remarks, both in her books and in public statements. She has consistently denied that trans women are women, having called trans women a “ghastly parody” of femaleness. “No-platforming” is more and more being adopted as the weapon of choice by...

Glasgow Free Pride retracts ban on drag performers

“Free Pride” is an event being organised by LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, questioning, intersex, asexual, other) people in Glasgow in response to the commercialisation of the Pride Glasgow. It is a two day “festival” and ticketed event, with prices from £8 for a day ticket to £55 for a “VIP” pass —with separate toilets and bars for those who can afford this price tag! Worse, Pride Glasgow has a vomit-inducing “happiness” theme with the Twitter hashtag (of course there’s a hashtag) #behappy. Trying to reclaim Pride so it is both political and accessible is entirely admirable and...

The queer future: workers' rights or corporate power?

In many ways sexuality and gender identity politics has come of age. Instead of the focus on broad-based political demands for equal rights that were necessary over the past decades, when there was legal discrimination and the majority of the population expressed prejudice, there is now a political imperative to draw sharp dividing lines between the interests of pink capitalists and those of LGBTQ workers. An emboldened Conservative Party in government, together with its big business backers, is determined to attack workers organisations. There is an ideological war going on to delegitimise...

Pride 2015: Pro-migrant, class struggle block

Workers' Liberty members joined NCAFC LGBTQ+ and LGSM on the trade union section of pride this year. We shouted slogans about migrant rights, joining a union, and calling on Pride to be anti-austerity. See photos below:

US Court rules against state bans on same-sex marriage

US socialists Ann Coleman, Alan Maass and Nicole Colson report on the US Supreme Court's historic ruling on same-sex marriage. This article was taken from the International Socialist Organization publication website socialistworker.org (no connection to British SWP). The authors welcome the ruling, seeing it as a culmination of many struggles for equality. Some socialists and LGBT activists in US, as in the UK, question the institution of marriage. We invite debate on this question. The US Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling on same-sex marriage (26 June) was a sweeping victory in the decades-long...

300 Ukrainian LGBT activists march and defy far-right's threats

300 LGBT activists and their supporters took part in a March for Equality in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev last Saturday (6th June) despite threats by the ‘Right Sector’ organisation to drive them off the streets. It was the fourth attempt in successive years to stage such a demonstration. The 2012 March for Equality was abandoned when 3,000 protestors turned up to prevent it from going ahead. (Ukraine was one of the first post-Soviet countries to decriminalise homosexuality, in 1991. But popular anti-LGBT prejudices remain widespread.) In 2013 over a hundred LGBT activists defied a court ban...

LGSM told they can’t march with the unions at Pride

The final London Open Meeting for the organisation of this year’s Pride march (Saturday 27 June) discussed the decision to separate the trade union block from Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). LGSM, following on from the popularity of the film Pride, has been given a position at the front of the march. But the trade unions are in Block C of the march (i.e. at the back), and way behind the prime sponsors of Pride, Barclays, Starbucks and Citi Group. Yet the TUC has also been a big sponsor of Pride, donating up to £400,000 over the years. According to the Pride Board, the trade union...

Hold them to account!

Omar Raii’s article about free speech on University campuses ( Solidarity 354) was written before a recent public exchange of letters over the issue. A number of academics and activists like Peter Tatchell signed a letter condemning what they called the “intimidation” of comedian Kate Smurthwaite (she had a gig at Goldsmiths University cancelled) and the attempt last month, to get the Cambridge Union (CU) to withdraw an speaking invitation to Germaine Greer (Greer has long been anti-trans). A letter signed by activists, answered the condemnation, to set the record straight. Indeed, neither of...

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