Mainstream Gay Rights Movement Analysis

There are two primary sectors in the fight for LGBT causes; the mainstream gay rights movement and the queer liberation movement (Brettschneider, Burgess, & Keating, 110). The mainstream gay rights movement takes an assimilationist approach to their advocacy. This means that they advocate for issues that willow allow them to be accepted into society. This is in opposition to the queer liberation movement, also known as the queer radical left, which take a liberationist approach. This means that rather than being accepted into society, they demand society make a space for them. Both of these sectors have acquired successful gains. However, the mainstream gay rights movements successes are successes of a limited scope that benefits the interests

of a specific group within the LGBT movement; primarily the white, middle class, and wealthy gays and lesbians (Brettschneider et al. 110). The queer liberation movement is a multi-issue and intersectional driven movement that has been a significant driving force behind the LGBT movement, operates under a trickle-up framework, and is overall more effective than the assimilationist mainstream gay rights movement.
The assimilationist mainstream gay rights movement does little to address other major issues that impact LGBT persons such as economic, racial, and other marginalization issues. The groups that do claim to focus on these issues usually tend to only focus on the outreach of getting marginalized people involved in their movements with the purpose of diversification, rather than providing actual solutions and this only serves to further stigmatize the already marginalized (Brettschneider et al. 129). Diversity is good, but it cannot stop there. Action and mobilization must be applied in order to truly help marginalized persons within the LGBT community and that is where the mainstream gay rights movement fails.
In The Gay and Lesbian Liberation Movement, Margaret Cruikshank states that some of the worst failures of the LGBT movement come from not being radical enough (4). The stunning achievements of the radical queer left are often overlooked because these achievements are partial reforms, rather than expansive revolutions. For example, because of the actions of the gay liberation movement and specifically their fight against aids students are more likely to understand gay rights as a major political and social movement (Cruikshank, 2). Even the passage from derogatorily being called homosexual to claiming the term “gay” was pioneered by the gay liberation movement. “When a despised minority becomes strong enough to bend language to its own uses, some of the stigma formerly attached wears off (Cruikshank, 3).” Most believe that this success happened on June 27, 1969 when the Stonewall Inn was raided by police; thus began the Stonewall Riots. From these riots a mass movement was started, first there was the Gay Liberation Front and from that stemmed many more LGBT advocacy groups. After the first Gay Liberation Front was formed the concept spread to other cities across the nation and “gay power” was born (Cruikshank, 3). The Gay Liberation Front can arguably be deemed the start of it all. The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) was a more prominent advocacy group that worked transnationally and utilized radical left tactics to address the Aids crisis (Hobson). ACT UP applied radical left tactics such as office occupations, road blockades, and demonstrations at international AIDS conferences and the headquarters of government bureaucracies (Highleyman, 2002). Another amazing achievement of the queer liberation movement was the establishment of the first rape crisis centers (Hobson, 2018). These are just a few of the prominent historical successes of the queer radical left.
As mentioned previously, a defining factor of the queer radical left is that they are a multi-issue, intersectional movement.

“Queer liberation organizations represent a nuanced, complex, radical, vision of organizing that attends directly to the most marginal among queers (Brettschneider et al. 110).” There is an understanding within the radical queer left that the mainstream gay rights movement lacks. This understanding is that the privileging of a dominant group within a marginal group only creates more violence to those on the margin. This is essentially just a replication of the injustices and power imbalances that the movement is fighting against (Brettschneider et al. 110-111 ). In addition, the radical queer left demands a foundational rethinking of sexuality, sex roles, sex, gender, gender roles, the regulation of sex, and the constitutional guarantee to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (Cruikshank, 3).” With this in mind, the gay liberation movement makes a point to include these marginalized groups by taking on issues such as immigration, social service and public assistance, and criminal

justice.
A trickle up framework means to work from the margins to the center, as opposed to assimilationist tactics which typically attempt to work from center to margin (Brettschneider et al. 114). This framework can be broken down to whom, what, and how. The “whom” of the trickle up framework used by the queer liberation movement is simply those at the bottom; much like the name insinuates and as previously mentioned they work with the most marginalized in (Brettschneider et al. 115). The “what” aspect is the multi-issued intersectional issues they fight against. The “how” is best described by social movement scholar Charles Dixon with his term “another politics.” “Another politics” is anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, and anti-oppression politics. The radical queer left implement tactics that center around cultivating the active participation of the most marginalized. These tactics include; providing childcare at meetings, providing cell phones so individuals can stay connected and active in the movement, outreach programs, and regulations that allow low-income individuals to participate and attend meetings and other activities (Brettschneider et al. 115-122). Another prominent tactic of the queer liberation movement, and perhaps one of the most overlooked, is imagination. Their imagination reframed gay identity. The radical queer left were extremely skilled in employing visuals and various other creative mediums. An example of this is are chants such as, “ho, ho, homosexual, the ruling class is ineffectual!” or “Send the men to bed together!” to protest the Vietnam War (Hobson, 2018).
Looking back on the history of the queer radical left we can see that most of their groups are small and short-lived.

However, the queer liberation movement has undeniably created a social movement culture that we can translate to our society today and are even seeing some of that translation happening now (Hobson, 2018). That being said, the future of the radical queer left is facing a dilemma; they are at odds on whether or not to guide the mainstream gay rights movement in a more left oriented direction or work with other leftist groups that are not solely queer focused. There has been some success by the queer liberation movement in steering the mainstream gay rights movement down a more radical path; the National LGBTQ Task Force (NGLTF) is now recognizing, accepting, and aiming to resolve their lack of inclusivity for bisexuals, trans persons, people of color, and queer youth (Highleyman, 2002). Yet, there has also been strong inclinations that the future of the queer liberation movement lies in partnering up with other leftist groups. We are observing radical contemporary social movements for immigrant rights, environmentalism, prison abolition, racial justice, reproductive justice, global justice, and economic justice interconnecting to form a conglomerate for collective liberation. While this budding collective liberation movement does not focus solely on queer liberation, queer liberation remains an integral part of the collective (Brettschneider et al.

130).
The queer liberation movement has continually served as driving force behind the progression of the LGBT movement. While doing this they have maintained ideals of intersectionality and a multi-issued mentality. They work operate under a framework that prioritizes the safety and acceptance of the most marginalized people and have done so relatively effectively. These are vital components to the LGBT movement that the mainstream gay rights movement refuses to address and/or accept, which is an astronomical failure. The future of the queer liberation movement is unknown, but like their predecessors before them they are creating a different kind of social movement culture, one that the mainstream gay rights movement is incapable of paving.