Lhe LESBIAN AND GAY STUDIES READER EDITED BY HENRY ABELOVE MICHELE AINA BARALE DAVID M. HALPERIN Routledge New York London eePublished in 1993 by Routledge 29 West 35 Serost New York, NY 10001 Published in Great Britain by Routledge LL New Fetter Lane London ECAP 4BE Copyright @ 1993 by Routledge, Inc. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper. ‘All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechenical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ‘The Lesbian and gay studies reader / edited by Henry Abelove, Michéle ‘Aina Barale, David M. Halperin, Pom Includes bibliographical references ISBN 0-415-90518-4{HB) — ISBN 0-415-90519-2(PB) 1, Gays. 2, Homosexuality. 1. Abelove, Henry. Il. Barale, Michele Aina. III. Halperin, David M., 1952— HQ76.25148 1993 305.5°0664—c20 93-1623 cr British Libsary Cataloging-in-Publication Data also available. Contents ‘Acknowledgimen Copyright Infor Introduction 20 User's Guide x 1, Thinking Sex: 1 Gave S. Rosin 2. Epistemology o Eve Kosorsky ! 3. Deviance, Polit Sruant Hats, 4, Some Reflection Manivyw Fave 5. Homophobia: \ Bannana Suir 6. One Is Not Be Mowique Wit 7, Silences: “Hisg ‘Awa Mania At 8, From Nation t Cmpy Parror 9. Sexual Indiffer ‘Tonwsa pp Lat 10, Eloquence anc Responses t0 t Pyar Brian AL, Television/Fe: Sasa Tonnssew York: Hill and Wang 2 its form in Alain Lockey Atheneum, 1969), p, 62 " Split Open Four Centuries ‘oaks, 1974, p, 262. ‘azine (May 1974), p67, + September 28, 1935, 1 Ulysses Lee (1941; New sting letter dated January it, she gives accounts a baby “in shore clothes.” ation in your biography.” ¢ life of her father atthe December 2, 1955, |. 1899 (Archibald H, ké, August 28, 1912 sceiving her photograph: sible €0 do it” mber 7, 1897. Angelina ké Collection); letter of, letters of Nelly Stebbins ‘Anna J. Cooper, 1951), id Grimke to Archibald © Archibald H. Grimke its of letters anda long 24, 1929; letter of Anna hope you will now be + York.” n Records, Manusc ember 26, 1944, The lanta, Georgia, Times, June 11, 1958. 31 See eee eee Capitalism and Gay Identity Joun D’EMitio SSeS esse dike PcEnil sista of the United Stats, and leie/gny United State sory i re of is hie rer iret hs ey he explana that lebian end gay peopl Fong ‘ot Bon present hroughout history, that in the United States for Instance thet car teh, 07 entity and sbltreunlsometine is the ninatenth century, when the desler of exptlom made our emergence psi, Caption requited a gotem of labor bee on Ife ater than om ihe a lagly scent howtold or slave and wage gare sebdtal «relative exonony, which wat th nazsary ater conden forte akg of lbianiom and gayness. sound lsbin/gay polite in our oun tines, D'Emilo onde rede gunel in St ach a demystied view of ou past sh hopes is rk ints x and eecchere may help to provide John D'Emila isthe author of Sexual Bolten Sencel Eopmunities: The Making of Homosexual Minority (1383), endof Making Teesble: rege Gh Gay History. Politics, and the Univesity (1992); end hes profane of sty the Univerty of North Carolina, Greensboro ro, Buy ten and lesbians, the 1970s were years of significant achievement. Gay {bcration and! women’s liberation changed the sexval landscape of the nae le in large cities, and sibian feminists pioncered in building aleenative institutions and an altonease cahens that attempted to embody a liberatory vision of the future, Jn the 1980s, however, with the sesurgence of an active right wing, gay men’and Ctbans face the fature warily. Our victories appear tenuous and fagiar ee vate Ficedom of the past few years seems too rccent to be permanene, In ene arts of the lesbian and gay male community, 2 feeling-of ‘doonr is growing: analogies wich Mc- y's Ameria, when “sexual perverts” were a special target ofthe Right ad wins {Auti Germany, where gays were shipped to concentration camps, surface wel increasing ened. Everywhere there is the sense that new strategies are in order if we want co reserve our gains and move ahead. I peliowe that a new, more accurate theory of gay history must be part of this politcal enterprise. When the gay liberation movement began ak the ead of she 1966s, Fhe aad lesbians had no history that we could use to fashion our goals and strategy, Tr the ensuing years, in building a movement without a knowledge Ctoet history, we 467468 JOHN D'EMILIO instead invented a mythology. This mythical history drew on personal experience, which we read backward in time. For instance, most lesbians and gay men in the 1960s fist discovered their homosexual desires in isolation, unaware of others, and without resources for naming and understanding what they felt. From this experience, we constructed 4 myth of silence, invisibility, and isolation as the essential characteristics of gay life in the past as well as the present. Morcover, because we faced so many oppressive lava, public polices, and culeural beliefs, we projected ths into an image of the abysimal past until gay liberation, lesbians and gay men were always the victims of systematic, yr. differentiated, terrible oppression. These myths have limited our political perspective. They have contributed, for instance, to an overreliance on a strategy of coming out—if every gay man and lesbian in America came out, gay oppression would end—and have allowed us to ignore the institutionalized ways in which homophobia and heterosexism are reproduced, They have encouraged, at times, an incapacitating despair, especially at moments like the present: How can we unravel a gay oppression so pervasive and unchanging? ‘There is another historical myth that enjoys neatly universal acceptance in the gay ‘movement, the myth of the “eternal homosexual.” The argument runs something like this: gay men and lesbians always were and always will be. We are everywhere; nat jut ‘now, but throughout history, in all societies and all periods. This myth served a positive politcal function in the frst years of gay liberation. In the early 1970s, when we battled an ideology that either denied out existence or defined us as psychopathic individuals or freaks of nature, it was empowering to assert that “we are everywhere.” But in recent years it has confined us as surely as the most homophobic medical theories, and locked ‘our movernent in place. Here 1 wish to challenge this myth. I want to argue that gay men and lesbians have not always existed. Instead, they are a product of history, and have come into existence in a specific historical era, Their emergence is associated with the relations of capitalism; it has been the historical development of capitalism—more specifically, its free labor syscei—that has allowed large numbers of men and women in the late cwen- tieth century to call themselves gay, to sec themselves as part of a community of similat men and women, and to organize politically on the basis of that identity." Finally, 1 ‘want to suggest some political lessons we can draw from this view of history. ‘What, then, are the relationships between the free labor system of capitalism and homosexuality? First, let me zeview some featutes of capitalism. Under capitalism, work- x8 are “free” laborers in two ways. We have the freedom to look for a job. We own ‘our ability to work and have the freedom to sell our labor power for wages to anyone willing to buy it. We are also freed from the ownership of anything except our labor ower. Most of us do not own the land or the tools that produce what we need, but rather have to work for a living in order to survive. So, if we are frce to sell our labat ower in the positive sense, we are also freed, in the negative sense, from any othef alternative. This dialectic—the constant interplay between exploitation and some measut€ of autonomy— informs all of the history of those who have lived under capitalism. As capital~money used to make more money—expands, so does this system of fret labor. Capital espands in several ways. Usually it expands in the satme place, transforming smal firms into larger ones, but it also expands by taking over new ateas of productiot! the weaving of cloth, for instance, or the baking of bread. Finally, capital expand geographically. in the United States, capitalism initially took root in the Northeast, a time when slavery was the dominant system in the South and when noncapitalist Native American societies occupied the western half of the continent. During the nil” CAPIT th century, capital spreac thareapiet bee penetrated al “The expansion of capi transformation in the structu family life, and the meaning that are most directly linked "The white colonists in suctured around a houschol self-sufficient, independent, 2 ‘owned by the male head of h ren and women, the family v ‘ofeach member depended on women processed raw farm p) clothing, soap, and candles, a to produce the goods they co By the nineteenth cent In che Northeast, as merchan in the production of goods, v drawn out of the largely sel capitalise system of free labor. racely lasted beyond marriage “The family was thus nc 10 longer independent, the f ‘expanded very far, because it consumer goods, women still no longer produced p with their husbands’ wages, clothing for their families. P self-sufficiency of many fami ‘This transition away fo! ‘capitalist free labor economy 4381920, 50 percent of the L people, The vast majority of hhbor economy, in a system of aly did independent farmain ‘tenn towns and small cities and engage in other kinds of But for those people wl significance as an affective w ‘stisfction and happiness. B ‘surrounding the family descri ‘stisfying, mutually enhancir . With the exception bus for two centuries, ted even when access «The decline has is 5, blacks and whites, an, it became possible rgically, heterosexual ag happiness, and ex- adependence and fos- cas exeated conditions their erotic/emotional 2€ urban commun fn asexual identity, tech sermons indicates centh century. Homo- exe was, quite simply, dimen and women (0 ar family. There were fag women—in which ociety lacked even the ite possible chat some xx than to the opposite d in theie “unnatural” ‘way of life. Colonial living outside family ‘asnoticesbly changing ividaals began to make Jependent family unit, al identity—an identity to construct a personal try, a class of men and m sex, saw it as a tit hhemselves. These eatly sasiness executives, de- inisters, lawyers, cooks, | white, immigrant and of meeting each other +, large cities contained fas Riverside Drive in and.the nation’s capital, men, Public bathhouses cesbians formed literary rassed”” a5 men to obrain es who appeared to the lleges, in the settlement CAPITALISM AND GAY IDENTITY an houses and in the professional associations and clubs thet women formed one could find Iielong intimate relationships supported by a web of lesbian friends, By the 1920s and 1930s, large cities such as New York and Chicago contained lesbian bars. These patterns of living could evolve because capitalism allowed individuals to survive beyond the confines of the family.* ‘Simaltancously, ideological definitions of homosexual behavior changed. Doctors developed theories about homosexuality, describing it a condition, sometbing that wat Seherent in a person, a part of his or her “nature.” These theoties did not represent ientific breakthroughs, elucidations of previously undiscovered areas of knowledge: ‘Sther, they were an ideological response ro a new way of organizing one’s personal Iie. ‘The popularization of the medical model, in turn, afeced the consciousness of the ‘Women and men who experienced homosexual desire, so that they came to define themselves through their erotic life “These new forms of gay identity and patterns of group life also reflected the Jiffeentiation of people according to gender, race, and class that is so pervasive in capitalist societies. Among whites, for instance, gay men have traditionally been more Siible than lesbians. This pattly stems from the division between the public male sphere Tin the private femate sphere. Strects, parks, and bass, especially at night, were “male fpace.” Yet the greater visibility of white gay men also reflected chee larger numbers. he Kinsey studies of the 1940: and 1950s found significantly more men than women with predominantly homosexval histories, a situation caused, 1 would argue, by the fact that capitalism had drawn far more men than women into the labor force, and at higher trages, Men could more easly construct a petsonal life independent of attachments to the opposite sex, whereas women were more likely to remain economically dependent gu men Kinsey also found a strong positive correlation berween years of schooling and lesbian activity. College-educated white women, far more able than their working-class sas co spport themselves, could survive more easily without intimate relationships with men “Among working-class immigrants in the early ewentieth century, closely knit kin networks and an ethic of family solidarity placed constraints on individual autonomy that made gayness a difficult option to pursue. In contrast, for reasons not altogether ‘lear, urban black communities appeared relatively solerant of homosexuality. The pop- laity in the 1920s and 1930s of songs with lesbian and gay male themes“B.D. Woman,” Prove It on Me,” “Sissy Man,” “Fairey Blues”—suggests an openness about homosexual expression At odds with the motes of whites. Among men in the rural West in the 1940s, Kinsey found extensive incidence of homosexual behavior, but, in contrast ‘with the mien in large cities, little consciousness of gay identity. Thus even as capitalism cxetted a homogenizing influence by gradually transforming more individuals into wage laborers and separating them from traditional communities, different groups of people were also affected in different ways.” ‘The decisions of particular men and women to act on their erotic/emotional pref ‘erence for the same sex, along with the new consciousness that this preference made them different, led to the formation of an urban subculture of gay men and lesbians, Yer at least through the 1930s ebis subculture remained rudimentary, unstable, and dificult to find. How, then, did the complex, well-developed gay community emerge that existed by the time the gay liberation movement exploded? The answer is to: be- found during World War Il, a time when the cumulative changes of several decades ‘coalesced into a qualitatively new shape. "The war severely disrupted traditional patterns of gender relations and sexuality, and temporarily created a new erotic situation conducive to homosexual expression. It472 JOHN D'EMILIO; plucked millions of young men and women, whose sexual identities were jst forming, ‘out of their homes, out of towns and stuall-rities,.our of the heterosexual environmem, of the family, and dropped them into sex-segregated situations—as Gils, as WACS and “WAVES, in same-sex rooming houses for women workers who relocated to seek em ployment. The war freed millions of men and women from the settings where hetero. sexuality was norimally imposed. For men and women already gay, it provided an op. portunity to meet people like themselves. Others could become gay because of the temporary freedom to explore sexuality that the war provided.* Lisa Ben, for instance, came ont during the war. She let che small California town where she was raised, came to Los Angeles to find work, and lived in a women’s boarding house. There she met for the frst time lesbians who took her to gay bars and introduced her to other gay women. Donald Vining was a young man with lots of homosexual Acsie and few gay experiences. He moved to New York City during the war and worked ata large YMCA, His diary reveals numerous erotic adventures with soldiers, silo, ‘marines, and civilians at the Y where he worked, as well as at the men’s residence cli where he lived, and in parks, bars, and movie theaters, Mariy Gls stayed in port cities like New York, at YMCAs like the one where Vining worked. In his oral histories of gay men in San Francisco, focusing on the 1940s, Allan Bérubé has found thatthe wor ‘years were critical in the formation of gay male community in the city. Places as diferent 4s San Jose, Denver, and Kansas City had their first gay bars in the 1940s. Even severe repression could have positive side effects. Pat Bond, a lesbian from Davenport, lowa, joined the WACs during the 1940s. Caught in a purge of hundzeds of lesbians from the WACS in the Pacific, she did not return to Towa. She stayed in San Francisco axd became part of a community of lesbians. How many other women and men had com parable experiences? How many other cities saw a rapid growth of lesbian and gay male communities? ‘The gay men and women of the 1940s were pioneers. Their decisions 10 ac of their desires formed the underpinnings of an urban subculture of gay men and lesbians Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the gay subculture grew and stabilized so that people coming out then conld more easily find other gay women and men than in the pa Newspapers and magazines published articles describing gay male life. Literally bundrels of novels with lesbian themes were published.'® Psychoanalysts complained about te new ease with which their gay male patients found sexual partners. And the gay #8 cclture was not just to be found in the largest cities. Lesbian and gay male bars cx in places like Worcester, Massachusetts, and Buffalo, New York; in Columbia, Sout Carolina, and Des Moines, Iowa. Gay life in the 1950s and 1960s became a nationwide phenomenon. By the time of the Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969—the ert that ignited the gay liberation movement—our situation was hardly one of silence i visibility, and isolation. A massive, grass-roots liberation movement could form alm ‘overnight precisely because communities of lesbians and gay men existed. Although gay community was a precondition for a mass movement, the oppress of lesbians and gay men was the force that propelled the movement into existence: Mt the subculture expanded and grew more visible in the post-World War Il era, oppresit by the state intensified, becoming more systematic and inclusive. The Right scapes “sexual perverts” during the McCarthy era. Bisenhower imposed a total ban on the employment of gay women and men by the federal government and government or tractors. Purges of lesbians and homésexuals from the military rose sharply. The instituted widespread surveillance of gay meeting places and of lesbian and gay 8" nizations, such as the Daughters of Bilitis and the Mattachine Society. The Post Of placed tracers on the correspondence of gay men and passed evidence of homose™ co satvity on t0 employers iesbian and gay-male-bars fans. The danger involv ‘enhanced. Gay liberation Although lesbians a up some safe social space How to heterosexism anc ression has mere So extalega vilen and gay men. And, as ow threatens to wipe out ot shape as a “pro-famnily”” possible the emergence « sppeats unable to accept homophobia appear so re ‘The answers, 1 thin tothe family, On the one the material basis of the cemented the ties betwec fre labor system, and as « mast goods and services ‘women into families an ideology of capitalist soc andemotional security, tk is satisfied, : This elevation of tt isnot accidental. Every s the possibilities are not li ‘ith capitalist relations 0 taining that the products 'n many ways, childreat centuries, with schools, that once belonged to par and childrearing are priv tights of ownership. Idee cath generation comes o' Petia relationships. M together so that their me © t0 expect happines the ‘mater foundation feminises have become tl This analysis, if pers Four identity, our forte certain percens + More of us thi fans in the futur Ye leksidentities were just forming, ae heterosexual environment tions—as Gls, as WACs and who relocated to seek em. nn the settings where hetero- ceady gay, it provided an op- become gay because of the ided* sft the small California town lived in a women’s boarding ex to gay bars and introduced aan with lots of homosexual y during the war and worked intures with soldiers, sailors, sat the men’s residence club any Gls stayed in port cities vtked. In bis oral histories of érubé has found that the war in che city. Places as different urs in the 1940s, Even severe ibian from Davenport, Towa, of hundreds of lesbians from stayed in San Francisco and women and men had com- owth of lesbian and gay male uss, Their decisions to act on tare of gay men and lesbians. and stabilized so that people and men than in the pas. y male life. Literally hundreds ralysts complained about the il partners. And the gay sub- ian and gay male bars existed w York; in Columbia, South 4 1960s became a nationwide York City in 1969—the event vas hardly one of silenc novement could form almost say men existed. ass movement, the oppression ‘movement into existence. As ‘World War Il era, oppression usive. The Right scapegoated imposed a total ban on the cament and government coB- ilitary rose sharply. The FBI atid of Tesbianandgay org hine Society. The Post Office ssed evidence of homosextal CAPITALISM AND GAY IDENTITY 43 activity on to employers. Urban vice squads invaded private homes, made sweeps of lesbian and gay male bars, entrapped gay men in public places, and fomented local witch hunts. The danger involved in being gay rose even as the possibilities of being gay were cahanced. Gay liberation was a response to this contradiction. Although lesbians and gay men won significant victories in the 1970s and opened ap some safe social space in which to exist, we can hardly claim to have dealt a fatal blow to heterosexism and homophobia. One could even argue that the enforcement of gay oppression has merely changed locales, shifting somewhat from the state to the arena of extralegal violence in the form of increasingly open physical attacks on lesbians and gay men. And, as our movements have grown, they have generated a backlash that threatens to wipe out our gains, Significantly, this New Right opposition has taken shape as a “pro-family” movement. How is it that capitalism, whose structure made possible the emergence of a gay identity and the creation of urban gay communities, appears unable to accept gay men and lesbians in its midst? Why do hetetosexism and homophobia appear so resistant to assault? ‘The answers, I think, can be found in the contradictory relationship of capitalism to the family. On the one hand, as I argued earlier, capitalism has gradually undermined the material basis of the nuclear family by taking away the economic functions that cemented the ties between family members. As more adults have been drawn into the feee labor system, and as capital has expanded its sphere until it produces as commoditi most goods and services we need for our survival, the forces that propelled men and women into families and kept them there have weakened. On the other hand, the ideology of capitalist society has enshrined the family as the source of love, affection, andemodonal secu, the place where our ne fr sable otimtehoinan celatonship is satisfied, ‘This clevation of the nuclear family to preeminence in the sphere of personal life is not accidental. Every society needs structures for reproduction and childbearing, but the possibilities are not limited to the nuclear family. Yet the privatized family fits well with capitalist relations of production. Capitalism has socialized production while main- taining that the products of socialized labor belong to the owners of private property. Jn many ways, childrearing has also been progressively socialized over the last two centuries, with schools, the miedia, peer groups, and employers taking over functions that once belonged to parents. Nevertheless, capitalist society maintains that reproduction and childrearing are private tasks, that children “belong” to parenis, who exercise the Fights of ownership. Ideologically, capitalism drives people into heterosexual families: tach generation comes of age having internalized a heterosexist model of intimacy and personal relationships. Materally, capitalism weakens the bonds that once kept families together so tit their members experience a growing instability in the place they have come to expect happiness and emotional security. Thus, while capitalism has knocked the material foundation away from family life, lesbians, gay men, and heterosexual feminists have become the scapegoats for the social instability of the system. ‘This analysis, if persuasive, has implications for us today. It can affect our perception of our identity, our formulation of political goals, and our decisions about strategy. Thave argued that lesbian and gay identity and communities are historically created, the result of a process of capitalist development that has spanned many generations. A Corollary of this argument is that we are not a fixed social minority composed for all time of a certain percentagé-of the population. There are more af us than one hundred Yeats ago, more of us than forty years ago. And there may very well be more gay men and lesbians in the fature. Claims made by gays and nongays that sexual orientation is474 JOHN D'EMILIO fixed at an eacly age, that large numbers of visible gay men and lesbians in society, the media, and the schools will hae no influence on the sexual identities of the youn ae wrong. Capitalism has created te material conditions for homosemual deste to expues itself as central component of some individuals’ lives; now, out politcal movenseny are changing consciousness, creating the ideological conditions that make it eases fn people to make that choice. To be sure, this argument confirms the worst fears and most rabid chetotic of our political opponents. But our response must be to challenge the underlying belief the homosexual relations are bad, a poor second choice. We must not slip into the oppor tunistic defense that society need not worry about tolerating us, since only homosevunls become homosexuals. At best, minority group analysis and a civil cights strategy pertain to those of us who already ate gay I leaves today’s youth—tomorrow’s lesbians and gay ‘mento internalize heterosexist models that it can take a lifetime to expunge, T have also argued that capitalism has led to the separation of sexuality from Procreation, Human sexual desire need no longer be harnessed to reproductive imper atives, co procreation; its expression has increasingly entered the realm of choice, Lesbians and homosexuals most clearly embody the potential of this split, since our gay rela tionships stand entizely outside a procreative framework. The acceptance of out erotic choices ultimately depends on the degree to which society is willing to afin sexual expression asa form of play, positive and life-enhancing, Our movement may have begun as the struggle of a “minority,” but what we should now be trying to “liberate" is an aspect of the personal lives of all people—sexual expression."* Finally, I have suggested that the relationship between capitalism and the family is fundamentally contradictory. On the one hand, capitalism continually weakens the tnaterial foundation of family life, making it possible for individuals to live outside the family, and for a lesbian and gay male identity to develop. On the other, it needs t0 push men and women into families, at last long enough to reproduce the next generation of workers, The elevation of the family to ideological preeminence guarantees that capitalist society will reproduce not just children, but heterosexism and homophobia. In the most profound sense, capitalism is the problem.!# How do we avoid remaining the scapegoats, the political victims of the social instability that capitalism generates? How can we take this contradictory relationship and use it to move toward liberation? Gay men and lesbians exist on social cerrain beyond the boundaries of the heter ‘sexual nuclear family. Our communities have formed in that social space. Our suevival and liberation depend on our ability to defend and expand that terrain, not just for ‘ourselves but for everyone. That means, in part, support for issues that broaden the opportunities for living outside traditional heterosexual family units: issues like the availabilty of abortion and the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, affirmative action for people of color and for women, publicly funded daycare and other essential social services, decent welfare payments, full employment, the rights of young people in other words, programs and issues that provide a material basis for personal autonomy ‘The rights of young people are especially critical. The acceptance of children 38 dependents, a belonging to parents, isso deeply ingrained that we can scarcely immagine what it would mean to treat them as autonomous human beings, particularly in the realm of sexual expression and choice. Yet until that happens, gay liberation will emaia, out of our reach. But personal autonomy is only half the story. The instability of families and the sense of impermanence and insecurity that people are now experiencing in their personal relationships arc real social problems chat need to be addressed. We need political 3° for these diffic eof a cada vers gthen the family. pomic ineguality of i fandicrafe production as made possible by s wwe should not be tryin ‘We do need, ho indaries that isolate Samuny- or work cst, neighborhood in Jurge the social unit wl the nuclear family chat Las and less will it se: In tis respect ga cacladed from families of support that do not are freely chosen and as much a part of our ‘we may prefigure the and jastice rather than cerity do not preclude Notes ‘This casay ia tev "am grateful tothe felle the Baltimoce Gay Alliat of Gay Awareness Week. livin, and the coordina Irvine Liss Duggan, Entel ‘Ann Saito, Chettne S dhe. especialy want fe thc omn teeth, and A Maris and sexuality. 1.1 do not mean ioral change. Se, fo (1968): 182-92; Jeffey Books, 1977) fis also in ‘Robert Hurley (New 9 aad che works cited box bas allowed foc the emer homosexual thesis, see Unitesity of Chicago Bi through fifteen centiies 2, See Bli Zaresky 1976} and Pasla Fass 3 ford Univesity Press 3, Robert B. Oaki Century New England,’ Suak Norman and Mary Ameen History (New ¥sn and lesbians in society, the al identities of the young, sre homosexual desire to expres 20w, our political movements fitions that make it easier for and most rabid chetoric of our ge the underlying belief that must not slip into the oppor- 1g ws, since only homosexuals daa civil rights strategy pertain tomorrow's lesbians and gay 1 lifetime to expunge. separation of sexuality from nessed to reproductive imper- the eealm of choice. Lesbians this split, since our gay rela- ‘The acceptance of our erotic ty, is willing to affiem sexual var movement may have begun re trying to “liberate” is an cen capitalism and the family lism continually weakens the individuals to live outside the »p. On the other, it needs to reproduce the next generation preeminence guarantees that rosexism and homophobia In volitical victims of the social his contradictory relationship the boundaries of the heter- that socal space. Our survival and that terrain, not just for t for issues that broaden the family units: issues like the ghts Amendment, afirmative sd daycare and other essential , the rights of young people— 1 basis for personal autonomy. Che acceptance of children as | that we can scarcely imagine in beings, particularly in the ns, gay liberation will remain instability of families and the experiencing in their personal — ressed. We need political so- CAPITALISM AND GAY IDENTITY 475 Iutions for these difficulties of personal life. These solutions should not come in the form of a radical version of the pro-family position, of some left-wing proposals to ssrengthen the family. Socialists do not generally respond to the exploitation and eco- omic inequality of industrial capitalism by calling for a return to the family farm and handicraft production, We recognize that the vastly increased productivity that capitalism has made possible by socializing production is one of its progressive features. Simaiarly, wwe should not be trying to turn back the clock to some mythic age of the happy family. ‘We do need, however, structures and programs that will help to dissolve the tboundaries that isolate the family, particularly those that privatize childvearing. We need commanity- or worker-controlled daycare, housing where privacy and community co- cist, neighborhood institutions—from medieal clinics to performance centers that en- large the social unit where each of us has a secure place, As we create structures beyond the nuclear family that provide a sense of belonging, the family will wane in significance. Less and less will it seem to make or break our emotional security In this respect gay men and lesbians are well situated to play a special role. Already excluded from families as most of us are, we have had to create, for our survival, networks of support that do not depend on the bonds of blood or the license of the state, but that are freely chosen and nurtured. The building of an “affectional community” must be as much a part of our political movement as are campaigns for civil rights. In this way we may prefigure the shape of personal relationships in a society grounded in equality snd justice rather than exploitation and oppression, a society wheze autonomy and se- curity do not preclude each other but coexist. Notes ‘This essay isa cevised version ofa lecture given before several audiences in. 1979 and 1980. 1am grateful to the following groups forgiving me a forum in which to calk and get feedback the Baltimore Gay Alliance, the Sen Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project, the organizers of Gay Awareness Week 1980 at San Jose State University and the Univesity of California at Irvine, nd the coordinators of the Student Affairs Lectures at the University of California at levine. Lise Duggan, Estelle Freedman, Jonathan Katz, Carole Vance, Paula Webster, Bert Hansen, ‘Ann Snitow, Christine Stansell, nd Sharon Thompson provided helpful riicisms of an carlier dof, especially wane to thank Allan Bérubé and Jonathan Kate for generously shang with me their own research, and Amber Hollibaugh for many exciting hours of nonstop conversation about Marxism and sexuality 1. Ido not mean to suggest that no one has ever proposed that gay identity is 2 product of historical change, See, for instance, Mary Melntosh, “The Homosexual Role,” Socal Problens 16 (1968): 182-92; Jeffrey Weeks, Coming Out: Homosexual Politics in Briain (New York: Quartet Books, 1977). It is also implied in Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, vol : Aw Irradution, & Robert Hurley (New York: Pantheon, 1978). However, this does representa minority viewpoint and che works cited above have not specified how itis that capitalism as a system of production hur allowed for the emergence of a gay male and lesbian identity. As an example of the “eternal homosexual” thesis, see John Borwell, Christisnity, Socal Toleenc, and Homosexuality (Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1980), where “gay people” remains an unchanging social category through fifteen centuries of Mediterranean and Western Europea history. 2. See Bli Zatetsky, Capitalism, the Family, and Personal Life (New York: Harper and Row, 1976) and Panla Fass, The Damned and the Beautiful: Americen Youth in the 1920s (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977). 3. Robert F. Oaks, “Things Fearful to Name’: Sodomy and Buggery in Seventeenth- Century New England,” Journal of Soil Histon, 12-(1978) 268-81; J.R. Roberts, "The Cate of Sarih Norman and Mary Hammond,” Sinister Wisdom 24 (1980): $7-62: and Jonathan Kate, Gay American History (New York: Crowell, 1976), pp. 16-24, 568-71.476 JOHN D'EMILIO. 4. For the period from 1870 to 1940 see the dacuments in Kata, Gay American History, and idem, Gay/Lesbian Almanac (New York: Crowell, 1983). Other sources inclode Allan Ber “Lesbians and Gay Meira Early San Francisco: Notes Toward a Social History of Lesb Gry Men in America,” unpublished paper, 1979; Vern Ballough and Bonnie Bollough, anism in the 1920s and 1930s: A Newfound Study,” Signs 2 (Summer 1977): 895-904, 5. On the medical model see Weeks, Coming Out, pp. 23-32. The impact ofthe medizal ‘model on the consciousness of men and women can be seen in Louis Hyde, ed. Ret and the Desi The Jounal Leer of FO. Mattheser and Russell Cheney (ataden, Conns Archon, 1978), p49, and in the sory of Lacille Hart in Kate, Gay American Hirory, pp. 258-79. Radciyfie Hall's hase novel about lesbianism, The Well of Lonliness, published in 1928, was pethaps one of the mot ‘important vehicles forthe popularization of the medical model. 6. See Alfted Kinsey eta, Sexual Behavior inthe Hanan Male (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders 1948) and Sexual Behavior inthe Human Female (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1953) 7. On black music, see “AC/DC Blues: Gay Jazz Reisaes,” Stash Records, ST106 (1977) and Chris Albertson, Base (New York: Stein and Day, 1974); om the persistence of kin neowois in white ethnic communities se Judith Smith, “Our Own Kind: Family and Commanity Net works in Providence,” in A Heritige of Her Own, ed. Nancy E. Cott and Elizabeth H. Pleck (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979), pp. 393-411; on differences between curl and urban mle hhomocroticism see Kinsey etal, Serual Behavior inthe Human Male, pp. 455-57, 630-31 8. The argument and the information in this and the following paragraphs come ftom my book Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of « Homosexual Minority Inthe United Stat, 1940-1970 (Chicago: University of Chicago Pres, 1983). 1 have also developed it with reference to San Francisco in "Gay Politics, Gay Community: San Francisco's Experience,” Sedat Rey 55 (January-February 1981): 77-108. 9. Donald Vining, A Gey Diary, 1933-1946 (New York: Pepys Pres, 1979); “Pat Bond” in Nancy Adair and Casey Adait, Word ls Out (New York: New Glide Publications, 1978) pp. 55-65; and Allan Bérubé, "Marching toa Different Drummer: Coming Out During World Wa 1," aslide/tak preseneed a the annual meeting of the Ametican Historical Association, December 1981, Los Angeles. A shorter version of Berube’s presentation can be found in The Ada, October 15, 1981, pp. 20-24 10. On lesbian novels see The Leddy, March 1958, p. 18; Febroary 1960, pp. 14-15; Apa 1961, pp. 12-13; February 1962, pp. 6-11; January 1963, pp. 6-13; February 1964, pp. 12-1% February 1965, pp. 19-23; March 1966, pp. 22-26; and April 1967, pp. 8-19. The Ladier ws the magazine published by dhe Daughters of Bilt 11, This especially needs to be emphasized today. The 1980 annual conference of the National Organization for Women, for instance, pated 4 lesbian rights resolution that defined the issue 2s one of “discsimination based on affectional/sexual preference/orientation,” and o plictly disassociated the isue from other questions of sexuality such as pornography, socom sochism, public sex, and pederasty, 12.1 do not mean to suggest chat homophobia is “caused” by capitalism, otis tobe found ‘only in capitalist societies. Severe sanctions against homocroticism can be found in Baropean few society and in contemporary socialist counties. But ray focus in this esay has been the emergent ‘of gay identity under capitalism, andthe mechanisms specific to capitalism that made this possible and that reproduce homophobia 3s well. VI COLL DISSIi