WHAT LESBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL PEOPLE NEED
The text of a Workers’ Liberty leaflet distributed at Pride 1997
We needed to get rid of the Tories - and now we have done! So what do lesbian, gay and bisexual people need now?
We need equality
We need full equality:
- the repeal of Section 28 and all laws that criminalise our sexuality;
- new laws against discrimination;
- the right to have kids, free from persecution by the Child Support Agency and the courts;
- equal rights in emplyment, immigration, housing, fostering and adoption.
New Labour’s response
The New Labour Government’s promises fall well short of this. They have postponed scrapping Section 28, and will hold a ‘free vote’ on the age of consent - in other words, they will allow Labour MPs to vote against equality.
The ‘free vote’ stance is supported by gay ‘New Labour’ MPs such as Stephen Twigg. This is disgraceful but perhaps not surprising - when Twigg was President of the National Union of Students, the Union’s Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Campaign condemned him for supporting people who banned and censored safer sex information for gay men.
We should not settle for crumbs from the table. Equality is our right, and nothing less will do.
We need the Welfare State
We need a lot more besides formal equality. We all (except for the very rich) need a well-funded NHS; free, quality education; an adequate benefits system; and decent jobs with a decent minimum wage.
After nearly two decades of a Tory Government that acted in the interests of the rich and did the bidding of the bigots, we need the Labour Government to act in the interests of working-class people. That means taxing the rich and using the money to rebuild public services.
We need a fightback
The history of our movement should teach us this lesson: we win when we fight, not when we crawl. From the Stonewall riots to Section 28, taking to the streets and taking direct action asserts our rights loudly and proudly.
Polite lobbying by a select few is not enough: it is easily ignored without the power of big numbers on big protests.
Parading and partying once a year in London is not enough either: get active in a concerted fightback all year round!
All in this together?
Will the ‘pink pound’ buy us our liberation? No! It may feather the nests of a few rich business types, but what of everyone else?
Gay bosses can be as ruthless and exploitative as straight bosses - there are plenty of gay workers who will testify to that! What should we do about it? Get unionised!
We need free trade unions
Lesbian, gay and bisexual workers should get active in trade unions. Unions have the potential to unite working epople to fight for and win real advances in our rights. But that potential power is currently shackled by Tory anti-union legislation which makes Britain’s trade unions the least free in the Western world.
To win workers’ rights, to fight bigotry, to rebuild the welfare state - we need free trade unions.
We need solidarity
We should not stay in an ivory tower of our own ‘single issue’. There are many sections of society which experience oppression. Fighting back in unity makes us all stronger. Those who oppress us know that when we are divided, we are easier to rule.
In particular, when the working class fights back, lesbian/gay/bisexual people should act in solidarity. Standing shoulder to shoulder in struggle breaks down homophobic prejudices that are still widespread.
We need socialism
Capitalism is a system which is based on inequality. It is a class-divided society that sustains homophobia. Although we can win - and we must fight for - formal equality, a programme for genuine equality must be a programme for the abolition of classes.
Society can be organised differently. There are enough resources in the world to provide for the basic needs of everyone - those resources should be owned and controlled democratically and collectively, in the interests of human need not private profit. A socialist society.
