Gay separatism
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Gay separatism is the political belief in and advocacy for gay male separatism. Separatism for gay men has included explicit political calls for men-only spaces; the creation of communes for gay men; and the lived social practice of self-segregation in "gayborhoods."
In the 1960s, prominent gay men opposed gay separatism. The poet W. H. Auden refused to allow his poems to be included in specifically gay anthologies and once stated, "I'm no advocate of the purely Uranian society myself. I mean, I certainly don't want to live only with queers."[1]
Gender separatism
By the 1970s' United States, homosexual organizations split along gender lines.[2] Lesbian-only organizations, such as The Furies, and lesbian separatist literature — such as Lesbian Nation and Dykes & Gorgons — advocated for a complete separation of lesbians and gay men.[3]
Gay separatist organizations emerged at this same time. Lee Craig Schoonmaker, a longtime activist and coiner of the "pride" slogan, was a gay separatist, opposing both bisexual inclusion and gender-integration.[4] In 1969, he founded an organization called Homosexuals Intransigent! — which allowed only gay men as members.[5] Schoonmaker called women "restricting" and stated "there is no reason whatever for their inclusion."[5]
In 1979, at the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Homosexuals Intransigent! distributed gay separatist literature, entitled "Messages on the Occasion of the Washington March, October 14, 1979."[6] In the pamphlet of short writings, members of the organization advocated for gay men to live and organize separately from both straight and gay women, stating, "The time has come for a homosexual Declaration of Independence from women — all women."[7]
Gay communalism
During the hippie movement in the United States, some gay men experimented with gay separatism through the creation of communes.[8] Many of these back-to-the-land projects were led by white gay men who were interested in fusing their sexual politics with their ecofeminist, animist, and countercultural spiritual beliefs.[8]
One such organization, the Radical Faeries, was founded in order to reject hetero-imitation. The Faeries focused on the particular spiritual experience of man-loving men (MLM) by co-creating temporary autonomous zones.[9] Faerie "sanctuaries" adapted rural living and environmentally sustainable ways of using modern technologies as part of creative expression.[10] The Faeries rejected the capitalistic and patriarchal aspects of LGBTQ+ life while celebrating eclectic constructs and rituals.[10]
Impact of the AIDS Crisis
LGBT historians argue the devastation of the 1980s AIDS crisis reshaped the development of gay and lesbian separatist politics.[11] Historian Douglas Crimp writes, "The AIDS crisis [brought] us face-to-face with the consequences of our separatism."[12]
Sarah Schulman, another LGBT historian, argues gay separatism in the 1970s emerged as a response to the economic oppression of gay men. Schulman writes, "Gay men were a highly oppressed community at this time... [and] resented that they could not access the full rights and privileges of men."[13] According to Schulman, however, the political coalitions and personal connections built during the AIDS crisis resulted in many gay men being "finally free to love women, to learn from women, and to listen to women."[14]
By 1995, however, the writer Pat Califia identified a "resurgence" of gay separatism, noting that in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis, the death of spaces dedicated solely to gay men represented a "threat" to their identity.[15] In the following decades, a significant number of campgrounds and cruises emerged to cater exclusively to gay men.[16][17]
