Gay separatism

Two interlocked Mars symbols representing male homosexuality.
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Gay separatism is the political belief in and advocacy for gay male separatism. Separatism for gay men has included explicit political calls for men-only spaces; the creation of communes for gay men; and the lived social practice of self-segregation in "gayborhoods."

Opposition[edit]

In the 1960s, prominent gay men opposed gay separatism. The poet W.H. Auden refused to allow his poems to be included in specifically gay anthologies and once stated, "I'm no advocate of the purely Uranian society myself. I mean, I certainly don't want to live only with queers."[1]

Gender separatism[edit]

By the 1970s' United States, homosexual organizations split along gender lines.[2] Lesbian-only organizations, such as The Furies, and lesbian separatist literature — such as Lesbian Nation and Dykes & Gorgons — advocated for a complete separation of lesbians and gay men.[3]

Gay separatist organizations emerged at this same time. Lee Craig Schoonmaker, a longtime activist and coiner of the “pride” slogan, was a gay separatist, opposing both bisexual inclusion and gender-integration.[4] In 1969, he founded an organization called Homosexuals Intransigent! — which allowed only gay men as members.[5] Schoonmaker called women "restricting" and stated "there is no reason whatever for their inclusion."[5]

In 1979, at the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Homosexuals Intransigent! distributed gay separatist literature, entitled "Messages on the Occasion of the Washington March, October 14, 1979."[6] In the pamphlet of short writings, members of the organization advocated for gay men to live and organize separately from both straight and gay women, stating, "The time has come for a homosexual Declaration of Independence from women — all women."[7]

Gay communalism[edit]

During the hippie movement in the United States, some gay men experimented with gay separatism through the creation of communes.[8] Many of these back-to-the-land projects were led by white gay men who were interested in fusing their sexual politics with their ecofeminist, animist, and countercultural spiritual beliefs.[8]

One such organization, the Radical Faeries, was founded in order to reject hetero-imitation. The Faeries focused on the particular spiritual experience of man-loving men (MLM) by co-creating temporary autonomous zones.[9] Faerie "sanctuaries" adapted rural living and environmentally sustainable ways of using modern technologies as part of creative expression.[10] The Faeries rejected the capitalistic and patriarchal aspects of LGBTQ+ life while celebrating eclectic constructs and rituals.[10]

Impact of the AIDS Crisis[edit]

LGBT historians argue the devastation of the 1980s AIDS crisis reshaped the development of gay and lesbian separatist politics.[11] Historian Douglas Crimp writes, "The AIDS crisis [brought] us face-to-face with the consequences of our separatism."[12]

Sarah Schulman, another LGBT historian, argues gay separatism in the 1970s emerged as a response to the economic oppression of gay men. Schulman writes, "Gay men were a highly oppressed community at this time... [and] resented that they could not access the full rights and privileges of men."[13] According to Schulman, however, the political coalitions and personal connections built during the AIDS crisis resulted in many gay men being "finally free to love women, to learn from women, and to listen to women."[14]

By 1995, however, the writer Pat Califia identified a "resurgence" of gay separatism, noting that in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis, the death of spaces dedicated solely to gay men represented a "threat" to their identity.[15] In the following decades, a significant number of campgrounds and cruises emerged to cater exclusively to gay men.[16][17]

In fiction[edit]

In limited instances, gay separatism has been represented through single-gender worlds in utopian fiction. The 2005 speculative fiction novel This Gay Utopia by John Butler imagines an all-male world in which both straight and gay men engage in sexual relations.

Several writers and scholars have identified literary and dramatic depictions of gay male utopias. According to writer Brian Hu, since every character in the 2004 Taiwanese film Formula 17 is a gay man, the film's cinematic world should be interpreted as a gay male utopia.[18] In 2017, the American historian Tavia Nyong'o described the play Future St. as depicting a gay male utopia.[19] Finally, the Sri Lankan writer Mary Anne Mohanraj identified the 1971 novel The Wild Boys as a gay male utopia.[20]

According to scholar Anette Myrestøl Espelid, male separatist literature is less common than female separatist fiction because many "Books written about wars or adventure stories almost exclusively feature men only, and as women were excluded from taking part in the public sphere up until fairly recent times, there is hardly any need for men to imagine a world without women."[21]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Woods, Gregory (2017). Homintern: How Gay Culture Liberated the Modern World. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 336. ISBN 9780300234992. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  2. ^ Rudy, Kathy. "Radical Feminism, Lesbian Separatism, and Queer Theory". Feminist Studies. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  3. ^ Levy, Ariel. "Lesbian Nation". New Yorker. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  4. ^ ""It's About Your Rights and Freedom"". Identiversity. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  5. ^ a b Albertario, Tyler. ""Pride" and Prejudice: The Craig Schoonmaker Story". Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  6. ^ Dentato, Michael P. (Oct 10, 2017). Social Work Practice with the LGBTQ Community: The Intersection of History, Health, Mental Health, and Policy Factors. London: Oxford University Press. p. 17. ISBN 9780190612801. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Messages on the Occasion of the Washington March, October 14, 1979". Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  8. ^ a b Rivers, Daniel (March 2018). "Founding New Sodom: Radical Gay Communalist Spirituality, 1973–1976". Devotions and Desires: Histories of Sexuality and Religion in the Twentieth-Century United States. doi:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469636269.003.0013.
  9. ^ Gallagher, Eugene V.; Ashcraft, W. Michael (2006), Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 260, ISBN 0-275-98712-4
  10. ^ a b Morgensen, Scott. 2009. "Back and Forth to the Land: Negotiating Rural and Urban Sexuality Among the Radical Faeries." In Ellen Lewin and William L. Leap eds. Out in Public: Reinventing Lesbian / Gay Anthropology in a Globalizing World: Readings in Engaged Anthropology. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 1-4051-9101-5, ISBN 978-1-4051-9101-2.
  11. ^ Brekke, Kira. "How Lesbians' Role In The AIDS Crisis Brought Gay Men And Women Together". Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  12. ^ Muñoz, José Esteban (Fall 2009). "The Queer Social Text" (PDF). Social Text. 27 (3): 216. doi:10.1215/01642472-2009-042. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  13. ^ Schulman, Sara. "'Change is made by coalitions.'". The Gay and Lesbian Review.
  14. ^ Adler, Natalie. "The Real Story of ACT UP". Lux Magazine.
  15. ^ Turbine, Jaz (September 1995). "The First Duty of a Revolutionary is to Survive". Cuir Underground. 2 (1). Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  16. ^ Leach, Ryan. "Carefree Campground". Out Smart Magazine. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  17. ^ Nunn, Gary. "I went on a 10-day cruise with 4,000 other gay men. I cried for days after it ended, and I can't wait to go back". Business Insider India. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  18. ^ Hu, Brian. "Formula 17: Testing a Formula for Mainstream Cinema in Taiwan". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  19. ^ Nyong'o, Tavia. "Gender Trouble in Queer Paradise". BOMB Magazine. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  20. ^ Mohanraj, Mary Anne. "Alternative Sexualities and Identities in Fantasy and SF Booklist". Website of Mary Anne Mohanraj. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  21. ^ Myrestøl Espelid, Anette. "Utopian Separatism: Feminism and Science Fiction" (PDF). University of Oslo. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
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