-Fight against Paragraph 175 heats up-
After 30 years of trailblazing work by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, Benkert
and others, the first political movement of a mass character for
sexual and gender rights emerged in Germany in 1896. The demand
for sexual and gender emancipation continued to draw backing from
socialist leaders.
A year before the official emergence of this movement, Eduard
Bernstein, then a Marxist and a leader of the German Social
Democratic Party, wrote a defense of the gay British literary figure
Oscar Wilde in an important left newspaper. Wilde's arrest and trial
were an example of how anti-gay and anti-transgender repression--in
this case charges against a feminine gay male--were intertwined in
the minds of prosecutors.
Bernstein's article called on socialists to lead the way in sexual
reform, challenged anti-gay prejudice and rejected the increasingly
popular psychiatric theories that pathologized same-sex love.
The first gay liberation organization was born in Germany two years
later, in 1897. It was called the Scientific Humani tarian Committee.
Its founder and notable leader throughout much of the committee's
35 years was Magnus Hirschfeld--a gay Jewish doctor who may
have also been, like many other leaders of the German movement, a
cross-dresser. He coined the word "transvestite," did extensive
research and produced germinal writings on the subject of cross
dressing.
The Scientific Humanitarian Committee published a yearbook that
reported on movement activities. It also documented literary, cross
cultural, cross-historical and scientific studies on same-sex love and
transgender.
The committee aimed to abolish Paragraph 175, raise social
consciousness and encourage sexually oppressed people to fight for
their rights. To achieve its goals, the committee held regular public
forums, organized speaking tours nationally and internationally, and
sent literature to other governments about the need to decriminalize
same-sex love.
The committee's main focus was a petition campaign, launched in
1897, to collect signatures of prominent people demanding the repeal
of Paragraph 175.
-Socialists of all sexualities unite-
From its earliest days, the committee won support from
revolutionaries, who were at that time called Social Democrats. In
1898, the committee took to parliament the signatures of 900 doctors,
lawyers, educators and scientists calling for the repeal of Paragraph
175. It was rebuffed.
However, the socialist minority in the German parliament did support
the demand. The great socialist leader August Bebel took the floor,
becoming the first major supporter to battle for the petition.
Bebel, author of "The Rights of Women"--an early socialist
denunciation of the oppression of women under capitalism--signed
the petition, took copies to parliament and urged others to add their
names.
He argued that homosexuality was so widespread among all
economic classes in society that "if the police dutifully did what they
were supposed to, the Prussian state would immediately be obliged
to build two new penitentiaries just to handle the number of violations
against Paragraph 175 committed within the confines of Berlin
alone."
When Bebel made this speech, and subsequent ones, on the
parliament floor, the right-wing politicians booed. But socialists
greeted his defense of same-sex love with supporting shouts of
"Hear, hear!"
Hirschfeld himself was affiliated with the Social Democratic Party
from 1898 until the rise of fascism forced him into exile.

Leslie Feinberg, Pride and struggle a century ago, June 10th 2004 Workers World

Socialists have in some form been fighting for queer civil rights since the 19th century

I honestly think so many self-claimed "radicals" shit on protests because people going outside reflects very poorly on their own learned helpless. It's simply easier and more comfortable to talk shit about those on the streets as a result.

Flood:
Flood, Japan:

If you ever wonder why Contrapoints is so indifferent to the Gaza genocide remember this was her opinion of Muslims

Contrapoints on gaza