Musings On:

Gay Liberation Manifestos from 1970

And
The Body Politic – a Gay Liberation Newspaper from 1980/ Toronto
©Duckler 2019

So, how is it going?

Reading these fiery, fierce Manifestos from circa 1970 was inspiring and disheartening. Nearly
50 years ago, groups of homosexuals burst onto the civil rights scene, demanding to be treated
equally by the law, by employers and by our social and economic institutions. The rhetoric was
powerful, beautiful, and – to my mind – logical. Who would argue against their points? Who
would block their freedoms?

But fifty years. That is a damn long time. How far have we progressed as a culture? It’s true
that homosexuality isn’t illegal anymore (or are there a few remnant laws scattered about in a
few states?). It’s also true that there is a tenuous agreement that homosexuals can marry in
the U.S. But has equality been achieved? Not even close.

This week, we celebrate the story of Passover. In it, we tell of a quest for freedom from slavery
that took ten acts of God to achieve. Ten separate acts of God, bringing plagues on the
Egyptians, to convince the political power that we should be freed. Each time, the Pharoh
would grant us our freedom, and then each time - even the tenth, the Pharoh changed his mind
and disallowed the freedom he had previously granted. Finally, on the tenth set-free, God
interfered in a big way. Enough! The Hebrews escaped through the miracle of the parted Red
Sea, and the sea closed again on the pursuing Egyptian Army.

The Hebrews celebrated their freedom on the other side. But instead of walking the few days’
journey to the Promised Land, God had them wander through the desert for forty years. This, it
is said, was to ensure that a new generation would come of age, would be the new population
to cross into Israel. The point being that the old generation, who had known only slavery, had
to be replaced by a new one that knew only freedom. The lifelong free individuals would act as
strong and fearless leaders. So, that took forty years.

Must we in modern times be freed ten separate times, only to be denied those same freedoms
again and again? Is gay marriage legal and then illegal again? Is it illegal to serve in the military
as a homosexual, then ok only if you don’t talk about it (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell)? Then fully legal
and accepted, only to be questioned and threatened once again by the Trump Administration?
Are we in the midst of the ten plagues and ten freedoms? What will be the final freedom that
will set our people free?
We are now at fifty years and counting since populations of American homosexuals demanded
their freedoms. Biblical time expands and contracts differently than modern time – more
similar to Orlando’s time than to ours which is marked by texts, instant messaging and 24-hour
time-stamped news cycles. What will be our modern forty years to mark true freedom, and
what is the marker for starting our generation of always-free queers?

In “What We Want, What We Believe,” the authors lay out some passionate, radical, yet largely
supportable ideals. That “the struggles of all oppressed groups under any form of government
which does not meet the true needs of its people will eventually result in the overthrow of that
government” can bring one to tears in this era of Trumpism. Corrupt, bigoted, misogynistic,
racist, greedy fat cats are running our government. And running it into the ground. They are
laying the groundwork for more of the same, in ever-increasing doses. People are being
oppressed who had been on the road to equality. Is this a modern freedom-denial-plague-
freedom-denial cycle? Many of our oppressed groups are once again reverting to rhetoric and
demands similar to what we read in these Manifestos. Will we be successful? Is progress
linear? No, of course not. But to have regressed so far back on so many fronts is truly
frightening.

Yet looking around the classroom, seeing a young generation that is not afraid to speak their
minds collectively and individually is incredibly inspiring. While as a country we have so, so far
to go, we can find some solace in the ever-widening progressive communities such as the Bay
Area. Communities in which the upcoming generation can dress freely, speak freely and love
freely. We can only hope to widen these circles of acceptance and collective/ individual
freedom of expression, until they eventually overlap throughout our country and beyond.

Do we need another generation of Manifestos? Do we need an act of God? Or ten? Possibly. Is

fifty years sufficient to achieve equality? Apparently not. I suppose, to refer back to the Biblical
example, we need to first achieve equality and then give it a few decades to settle in and
become the norm. Perhaps the relatively recent, monumental landmark of legal gay marriage
could be seen as our Red Sea moment. Perhaps we have already started the forty-year clock.
The millennials that we see in our campuses and classrooms, who have come of age since the
legalization, are proof that a generation can bloom without the shackles of discrimination and
be true to themselves and their gender identities. Maybe we need another thirty years or so to
give us a full generation that has not been officially and materially oppressed. Maybe time can
contract, rather than expand, on this one. Lord, I hope so.