Homosexuality and the American left: the impact of Stonewall

Following the Stonewall Riots in New York City in June 1969, the left had to reassess negative appraisals of homosexuality that prevailed among virtually all leftist currents. Pressure for change came from within and from without. By the mid-1970s, three approaches had emerged: (1) radical support for sexual liberation and acceptance of same-sex love as being on a par with heterosexuality; (2) liberal support for the civil rights of homosexuals but without challenging heterosupremacy; and (3) continued adherence to the (Stalinist) view that homosexuality is a form of "bourgeois decadence" alien to the working class. This essay assesses the ways in which the left adapted to the new challenges that confronted it, with particular focus on attitudes toward the nature of homosexuality and its relation to the broader goals of the left.