[Marxism] Sherry Wolf on gay marriage and divorce--from the Democrats

[David Thorstad <binesi@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sherry Wolf sounds like the radlib wing of the Democrat Party in her 
argument (as I read it) that the Democrats have failed to implement her 
program for repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell and for "marriage equality." 
Her argument bears no connection to a Marxist, or even a leftist, view 
of marriage, whether gay or not, and completely ignores the downsides of 
marriage, including the discriminatory special rights that marriage 
advocates pursue at the expense of genuine democracy. She dismisses 
"civil unions" as inferior to marriage--a ridiculous idea the may sound 
democratic only because it fails even to consider the reasonable 
counterargument to marriage, namely that a genuine democratic approach 
would involve removing the state entirely from the marriage business, 
and relegating marriage to the private and/or religious sphere. Every 
citizen should be treated equally before the state and the law: that is 
democratic. Being married should not provide you with special rights to 
medical care, for instance, but it is precisely such economic gains for 
some, at the expense of others (those who have to pay for them), that 
the marriage advocates are seeking. Giving special privileges to couples 
who gain state approval for their cohabitations and sexual arrangements, 
and whose special "rights" are subsidized by the rest of us, including 
the nearly half the population who is single and does not benefit from 
the "rights" of couples, whether gay or straight, is by definition an 
antidemocratic approach.
    It is pathetic to see leftists like Sherry Wolf, ISO, and most of 
what remains of the American left, confuse radicalism and democracy with 
their rallying around a failing hetero institution (same-sexers are 
supposed to save marriage?), not to mention criticizing the Democrats 
"from the left" for not allowing open homosexuals into the imperialist 
military, as she does.
    As the fortieth anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion approaches, 
so far have gay liberation and the "left" sunk that we are treated to 
such proposals to reform the rotten heterosexist capitalist system, 
presented as if they were a radical alternative, no less!
David
=================================================================

Louis Proyect wrote:
>
> http://socialistworker.org/2009/05/26/democrats-and-marriage-equality
>
> To win marriage equality, we need a divorce
>
> Sherry Wolf, author of Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics and 
> Theory of LGBT Liberation, looks at a critical question for the 
> struggle for same-sex marriage.
>
> May 26, 2009
>
> POP PSYCHOLOGY has long had a term for the political marriage between 
> LGBT people and the Democrats--it is a dysfunctional relationship.
>
> (clip)
>



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