A Double Defeat: Catastrophe for Gay Emancipatn Germany and the USSR | The Natnal WWII Mm | New Orleans

Contents:

• GAY LIFE STAL’S GULAG
• WHAT HAPPENED WHEN A GAY COMMUNIST WROTE TO STAL
• A DOUBLE DEFEAT: CATASTROPHE FOR GAY EMANCIPATN GERMANY AND THE USSR

GAY LIFE STAL’S GULAG

By: Alfonso CasalThe fact that homosexualy was crimally sanctned unr Soviet law is somethg that is often thrown the face of munists general, and ed to “discred” Comra Stal particular. Ined, “Stal hated gays” is somethg I’ve seen posted onle numero tim by trots and anarchists.

What needs to be stated is that Soviet legal and medil opn on this qutn was no different than what was generally accepted the world at large, namely, that homosexualy was a psycho-sexual disorr, a form of mental illns. Addnally, there were arguments ma that attempted to tie homosexualy to fascism – pecially nsirg that many of Hler’s Brownshirts were as this may seem, needs to be seen historil ntext.

’ In fact, was only 1975 that the Amerin Psychologil Associatn self ceased to classify homosexualy as a mental disorr. It should be noted, by parison, that the GDR had a much more open and posive policy wh rpect to homosexualy. By 1987, GDR law stated that “homosexualy, jt like heterosexualy, reprents a variant of sexual behavr.

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN A GAY COMMUNIST WROTE TO STAL

Homosexual people do therefore not stand outsi socialist society, and the civil rights are warranted to them exactly as to all other cizens. Today, there is not a sgle munist worthy of the name who do not whole-heartedly support gay rights.

Moreover, I thk should also be poted out that, spe the view that homosexualy was a mental disorr, the actual law qutn, Article 121 of the Soviet Crimal Co, was pretty much only enforced s of pedophilia, wh some 800 – 1000 prosecutns annually. Our laws proceed om the prciple of protectn of society and therefore untenance punishment only those stanc when juvenil and mors are the objects of homosexual tert … while regnizg the rrectns of homosexual velopment … our society b prophylactic and other theraptic measur wh all the necsary ndns for makg the nflicts that afflict homosexuals as pals as possible and for rolvg their typil trangement om society wh the llective—Sereisky, Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1930, p.

593Actually, Communists were MORE progrsive on the qutn of gay rights than was the bourgeois society of the time. Many German Communists were not only supportive of gay rights, but were pneers of sexual liberatn. Furthermore, “Len crimalized homosexualy” is a much beloved trotskye trope that they love to throw at Marxist-Lenists.

A DOUBLE DEFEAT: CATASTROPHE FOR GAY EMANCIPATN GERMANY AND THE USSR

The facts, are a ltle different:“The iative for revotn of antihomosexual legislatn, followg the Revolutn of Febary 1917, had e, not om the Bolsheviks but om the Cats (Constutnal mocrats) and the anarchists (Karlsky, 1989). Neverthels, once the old crimal had been repealed after the October Revolutn, the antihomosexual article also ceased to be valid. The Rsian Feratn crimal s for 1922 and 1926 did not mentn homosexualy, although the rrpondg laws remaed force plac where homosexualy was most prevalent – the Islamic republics of Azerbaijan, Turkmenia, and Uzbekistan, as well as Christian Geia.

Our laws proceed om the prciple of protectn of society and therefore untenance punishment only those stanc when juvenil and mors are the objects of homosexual tert” P. The absence of formal statut agast anal terurse or lbianism did not stop the prosecutn of homosexual behavr as a form of disorrly nduct. After the 1922 Penal Co was published there were that same year at least two known trials for homosexual practic.

The official stance of Soviet medice and law the 1920s, as reflected by Sereisky’s encyclopedia article, was that homosexualy was a disease that was difficult, perhaps even impossible, to cure.