The sprawlg system of Soviet mps ntaed many untold stori. I spoke to one of the few historians rearchg the experienc of gay men and lbians the Gulag to fd out more. RU
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
* stalin gay *
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.
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN A GAY COMMUNIST WROTE TO STAL
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.
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.
A DOUBLE DEFEAT: CATASTROPHE FOR GAY EMANCIPATN GERMANY AND THE USSR
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.