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1/ A Thread: ‘Come Together’, 1970-73, edited by Aubrey Walter, 1980, Verso Books.
Thank you to @RozKaveney for encouraging me down this path. Roz called me & the @ALLIANCELGB ’scabs’. I objected. She doubled down.
Thank you to @RozKaveney for encouraging me down this path. Roz called me & the @ALLIANCELGB ’scabs’. I objected. She doubled down.
2/ Roz said that LGBA ”opposes some of the most basic demands“ of the Gay Liberation Front, founded in 1970, specifically the participation of trans people.
’Come Together‘ provides a snapshot of that early history.
It was supposed to be evidence that LGBA are traitors.
’Come Together‘ provides a snapshot of that early history.
It was supposed to be evidence that LGBA are traitors.
3/ ’Coming Together’ shows that LGBA is entirely true to the history of the GLF movement. To say the movement’s history included contributions from trans people is correct; to say that trans people were central to or a focus of the GLF, is not.
4/ The introduction makes no reference to trans people at all; the focus is LGB, and unapologetically so.
It refers back to the Stonewall riots in 1969, which was clearly the impetus for the UK GLF, founded a year later.
It refers back to the Stonewall riots in 1969, which was clearly the impetus for the UK GLF, founded a year later.
5/ The book is an anthology drawn from a broadsheet publication put together by a small group of ”gay sisters and brothers.” Extracts from that GLF paper would be put into the book of the same title.
Here are the earliest demands of the movement:
Here are the earliest demands of the movement:
6/ The Youth Group Declaration of Rights was also, exclusively, about LGB people. There are references to the age of consent; lowering it to bring it in line with that of heterosexuals, namely 16 yrs old.
7/ There were writings that observed the challenges of being an out lesbian in prison, including a critique of “the Straight Gay World of Holloway (Prison)“ that resonates loudly today. Note that very butch lesbians were sometimes referred to in the text as ‘transvestite.’
8/ The main contribution from (male born) trans folk, including Roz, is in the sub chapter: ‘Don’t call me Mister, You Fucking Beast!’ & ‘Coming Out as Transsexual‘ in ’Lesbians Coming Together’, which is where I suspect the idea of the ‘trans (male) lesbian’ comes from.
9/ It’s poignant & humorous at times: “Why is Danny La Rue a West End institution, when we get kicked out of our flats for wearing a skirt.”
10/ It’s radical in a less comfortable way: “We must first destroy the trap wherein regular women set up standards by which they accept or reject us.”
11/ And then this:
“When we talk about our hopes and fantasies, it becomes apparent that what we want above all is to be accepted as women, primarily by other women.”
“When we talk about our hopes and fantasies, it becomes apparent that what we want above all is to be accepted as women, primarily by other women.”
12/ Why was this in the ‘Lesbians Coming Together’ chapter, when the focus was trans identified males, drag queens & transvestites, exclusively, organising around their specific experiences? Who knows how much thought went into its placement.
13/ What is clear then (as now) was that the concerns of trans identified males, focused on acceptance, principally by natal women, was a risk to women within the LGB movement, & their ability to organise around sex & male oppression.
14/ So, by looking back you see the overt hostility from this group about being called ‘Mister’, unmatched by the many gender non-conforming lesbians who have been called the same. You see the premium that trans identified males place on being accepted by natal women.
15/ It’s impossible to read this history & not question what is being done to women & their rights by giving unfettered access to trans identified males pursuing their ‘fantasy’. Have women being made unwitting & non-consenting props?
16/ So, thank you @RozKaveney, I respect the contribution you have made to trans rights, but I reject the slur of LGBA being ‘scabs.’ The work you pointed me to, that you hoped would justify your hostility to LGB people organising around sexual orientation,did the exact opposite.
17/ I’m glad that a group of trans identified males - trans women - found a safe haven within the LGB movement & were able to organise around their specific concerns free from discrimination & harassment, but that does not equate to trans people being at the heart of GLF.
18/ @ALLIANCELGB has honoured the proud history of the GLF by focusing on LGB rights, whilst having trans allies.
Sexual orientation & gender identity are not the same & it’s women & lesbians who suffer when predominantly male born people try to erase sexual difference.
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Sexual orientation & gender identity are not the same & it’s women & lesbians who suffer when predominantly male born people try to erase sexual difference.
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