To reply, I’m not trying to gloss over differences in the LGBT community. I haven’t had a chance to clarify my position on gay vs. queer activism yet, but I should try to summarize. I consider the fight for marriage rights a “gay” struggle, just like I consider fights against sodomy laws and employment discrimination a “gay” struggle. I view queer activism as anti-assimilationist, one that relishes the differences that set queers apart, and one that is actually a broader fight for justice. I should be more careful with my language (especially since I fall in the trap of using both “gay” and “queer” as umbrella terms in this very post).

But, what I was referring to in the passage you quote was specifically the gay fight for rights (especially the right to bugger one another), one that was historically male and, as you can tell from the examples I cite, based in Europe. And one that has been going on for a very long time.

I suppose it’s ultra ironic because I don’t consider myself ‘gay’ (genderqueer dyke is probably a better moniker) and should be more sensitive to exclusionary practices. But wrapped up in my head is that the fight for marriage is quintessentially gay. And while I personally devote more of my activist time to struggles that center class, race and community development more generally, I support the gay struggle from afar and I think it is a necessary prerequisite (but not sufficient) for justice.

So thank you for your comment. Prop 8 and its aftermath have left me very much preoccupied with the fight for marriage and other legal rights, but I need to move on or my blog is going to start sounding like the HRC.

Which gays? Please don’t homogenize the “community” and gloss over clear differences in class, race and level of entitlement. Sylvia Rivera’s struggle or Fierce NYC’s struggle was/is not HRC’s struggle.