Fordham University Manifesto Literature Review Paper 1. Look back at your notes on The Empire Strikes Back; The Queer Nation Manifesto; and Dyke Manifesto.

Fordham University Manifesto Literature Review Paper 1. Look back at your notes on The Empire Strikes Back; The Queer Nation Manifesto; and Dyke Manifesto. What did reading those manifestos make you realize? What did they make you think or feel? Use quotes from each to explain your response. （reading materials: https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/queernation.html, pdf trans manifesto accessible, lampls accessible)2. Select one the manifesto’s listed above. Name and describe the voice, audience, and purpose of your selected manifesto. Use quotes from the text to justify your answer.3. Using quotes any of the manifestos you read this week except for S.C.U.M., give an example where the manifesto demonstrates radical politics. Explain your answer. (reading materials: pdf refugees from amerika, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/pwh/glf-london.asp, pdf women identified women)Evaluation ParametersAll discussion posts should be completed with at least 500 words (not counting any quotations you include from the reading) t h e ga y
ma n h est o
CARL
WITTMAN
A Gay Manifesto
and technological change, that taboo continued only to exploit us and enslave us.
San Francisco is a refugee camp for homosexuals. We have
As kids we refused to -capitulate to demands that we
fled here from every part of the nation, and like refugees
ignore our feelings toward each other. Somewhere we found
elsewhere, we came not because it is so great here, but
the strength to resist being indoctrinated, and we should
because it w as so bad there. By the tens o f thousands, we .count that among our assets’. We have to realize that our
fled small tow ns where to be ourselves would endanger our loving each other is a good thing, not an unfortunate thing,
jobs and any hope of a decent life; we have! fled from
and that we have a lot to teach straights about sex, love,
blackmailing cops, from families who disowned of ‘tolerated’ strength, and resistance.
us; we have been drummed out o f the armed services, thrown
Homosexuality is not a lot o f thiftgs. It is not a makeshift
out of schools, fired from jobs, beaten by punks and police- in the absence of the opposite sex; it is hot hatred or
men.
rejection of the opposite sex; it is not genetic; it is not the
And we have formed a ghetto, out o f self-protection. It is result o f broken homes except inasmuch as we could seethe
a ghetto rather than a free territory because it is still theirs.’ sham o f American marriage. Homosexuality is the capacity
Straight cops patrol us, straight legislators govern us, straight
to love someone o f the same sex.
employers keep us in line, straight m oney exploits us. We 2. Bisexuality. Bisexuality is good; it is the capacity to love
have pretended everything is OK, because we haven’t been people o f either sex. The reason so few o f us are bisexual is
able to see how to change it—we’ve been afraid.
because society made such a big-stink about homosexuality
In the past year there has been an awakening of gay
-that we got forced into seeing-Ourselves as either straight or
liberation ideas and energy. How it began we don’t know; non-straight. Also, many gays got turned off to the ways men
maybe we were inspired by black people and their freedom are supposed to act with women and vice-versa, which is
movement; we learned how to stop pretending from the hip pretty fucked-up. Gays will begin to turn on to women when
revolution. Amerika in all its ugliness has surfaced with the
1) it’s something that we do because we want to, and-not
war and o u r national leaders. And we are revulsed by the-, because we should, and 2) when women’s liberation changes
quality of our ghetto life.
the nature of heterosexual relationships.
—■ Where once there was frustration, alienation, and cyni-”
We continue to call ourselves homosexual, not bisexual,
cism, there are new characteristics among us. We are full of even if we do make it v/ith tfte opposite sex also, because
love for each other and are showing it; we are full of anger at saying “ Oh, I’m Bi” is a copy out for a gay. We get told it’s OK
what has been done to us. And as we recall all the self-censor- to sleep with guys as long as we sleep with women, too, and
ship and repression for so many years, a reservoir of tears that’s still putting homosexuality down. We’ll be gay .until
pours o u t o f our eyes. And we are euphoric, high, with the .everyone has forgotten that it’s an issue. Then we’ll begin to
initial flourish o f a movement.
be complete.
We, want to make ourselves clear: our first job is to free 3. Heterosexuality. Exclusive heterosexuality is fucked up. It
ourselves; th at means clearing our heads o f the garbage that’s
reflects a fear of people of the same sex, it’s anti-homobeen poured into them. This article is an attem pt at raising a sexual, and it is frought witl) frustration. Heterosexual sex is
number of issues, and presenting some ideas to replace the
fucked 4ip, too; ask women’s liberation about what straight
old ones. It is primarily -for ourselves, a starting poiht of
guys are like m bed. Sex is aggression for the male chauvinist;
discussion. If straight people o f good will find it useful in
sex is obligation for traditional woman. And among the
understanding what liberation is about, so much the better.
‘ young, the modern, the hip, it’s only a subtle version of the
It should also be clear that these are the views of one
. same. F or us to become heterosexual in the sense that our
person, and are determined not only by m y homosexuality,
straight brothers and sisters are is not a cure, it is a disease.
but my being white, male, middle class. It is my individual
consciousness. Our group consciousness will evolve as we get
II. ON WOMEN
ourselves together-iye are only at the beginning.
I. ON O R IE N T A TIO N
1. What homosexuality is; Nature leaves undefined flie object
of sexual desire. Tfte gender o f that object is imposed socially. Humans originally made hom osexuality taboo because
they needed every bit o f energy to produce and raise children: survival o f species was a priority. With overpopulation
CARL W IT T M A N
{.Lesbianism-. It’s been a male-dominated society, for too
long, and that has warped both men and women. So gay
women are going to see things differently from gay men;
they are going to feel put down as women, too. Their
liberation is tied up w ith both gay liberation and women’s
liberation.
This paper speaks from the gay male viewpoint. And
although some of the ideas in it may be equally relevant to
gay women, it would be arrogant to presume this to be a
manifesto for lesbians.
We look forward to the emergence of a lesbian liberation
voice. The existence of a lesbian caucus within the New York
Gay Liberation Front has been very helpful in challenging
male chauvinism among gay guys, and anti-gay feelings
, needs, and places impossible demands on both people. And
a m o n g w om en’s liib.
2 . M a le Chauvinism: All m en are infected with male chauvin- we had the strength, again, to refuse to capitulate to the roles
i s m – w e were brought up that way. It means we assume that which were demanded of us.
Gay people must stop-gauging their self respect by how
w o m e n play subordinate roles and are less human than ourselves. (A t an early gay liberation meeting one guy said, well they mimic straight marriages. Gay marriages will have
“ Why. d o n ’t we invite w om en’s liberation-they can bring the same problems as straight ones except in burlesque. For
san d w ic h es and coffee.”) It is no wonder that so few gay the usual legitimacy and pressures which keep straight mar• riages together are absent, e.g. kids, what parents think, whal
w o m e n have become active in o u r groups.
•
. M ale chauvinism, however, is not central to us. We can neighbors say.
To accept that happiness comek through finding a groovy
j u n k it much more easily than straight men can. For we
u n d e rs ta n d oppression. We have largely opted out of a sys- spouse and settling down, showing the world that “we’re just
te m w h ich oppresses wom en daily—our egos are not built on the same as you” is avoiding the real issues, and is an
p u ttin g women down and having them build us up. Also, expression of self-hatred,
living in a moslly male world v/e have become used to 3. AItematives to Marriage: People want to get married foi
p lay in g different roles, doing o u r own shit-work. And finally, lots of good reasons, although marriage won’t often meet
w e h av e a common enemy: th’e big male chauvinists are also those needs or desires. We’re all looking for security, a fiow
of love, and a feeling of belonging and being needed.
th e big anti-gays.
These needs’ carr’he’1m ef1thwuglr ‘a’TTtrmber of -social
B ut we need lo purge male chauvinism, both in hehavoir
a n d in thought among us. Chick equals nigger equals queer. relationships and living situations. Things we want to get
away from are: 1. exclusiveness, propertied attitudes toward
T h in k i t over.
3 . W o m e n ’s liberation: They are assuming their equality and each other, a mutual pact against the rest of the world; 2.
d ig n ity and in doing so are challenging the same things we promises about the future, which we have no right to make
a re : t h e roles, die exploi tation of minorities by capitalism, and which prevent us from, or make us feel guilty about,
th e arro g an t smugness o f straight white male middle-class growing; 3. inflexible roles, roles which do not reflect us at
A m e rik a . They are our sisters in struggle.
the moment but are inherited through mimicry and inability
P ro b lem s and differences will become clearer when we to define equalitarian relationships,
b egin t o w ork together. One major problem is our own male
We have to define for ourselves a new pluralistic, rolefree
ch a u v in ism . Another is uptightness and hostility to homo- social structure for ourselves. It must contain both the frees e x u a lity that many women have-that is the straight in dom and physical space for people to live alone, live together
th e m . A third problem is differing views on sex: sex for them for a while, live together for a long time, either as couples or
h a s m ean t oppression, while for us it has been a symbol of in larger numbers; and the ability to flow easily from one of
o u r freedom . We must come to know and understand each these states to another as our needs change.
o th e r ’s style, jargon and hum or.
Liberation for gay people is defining for ourselves how
and with whom we live, instead of measuring our relationship
u
ML ON ROLES
in comparison to straight ones, with straight values.
4. Gay ‘stereotypes’: The straights’ image of the gay world is
1. Afrmrcry o f straight society : We are children of straight defined largely by those of us who have violated straight
s o c ie ty . We still thirik straight! that is part of our oppression. roles. There is a tendency among ‘homophile’ groups to
O n e o f the worst o f straight concepts is inequality. Straight deplore gays who play visible roles—the queens and th e:
( also w h ite , English, male, capitalist) thinking views things in nellies. As liberated gays, we must take a clear stand. 1. Gays
te rm s o f order aid comparison. A is before B, B is after A; who stand out have become our first martyrs. They came out
o n e is below two is below three; there is no room for and withstood disapproval before the rest of us did. 2. If
e q u a lity . This idea gets extended to male/female, on top/on they have suffered from being open, it is straight society
b o tto m , spouse/not spouse, heterosexual/homosexual; boss/ whom we must indict, not the queen.
w o rk e r, white/black and rich/poor. Our social institutions 5. Closet queens: This phase is becoming analagous to ‘Uncle
cause a n d reflect this verbal hierarchy. This is Amerika…
Tom” To pretend to be straight sexually, or to pretend to be
We’v e lived in these.institutions all our lives. Naturally we straight socially, is probably the most harmful pattern of
m im ic th e roles. For too long we mimicked these roles to behavior in the ghetto. The married guy who makes it on the
p ro te c t ourselves-a survival mechanism. Now we are becom- side secretly; the guy who will go to bed once but who won’t
in g free enough to shed the roles which we’ve picked up from develop any gay relationships; the pretender at work or
■th e in stitu tio n s which have imprisoned us.
school who changes the,.gsadeX-JBfithk friend, hfc’s. talking
“S t o p mim icking straights, sto p censoring ourselves. ”
about; the guy who’ll suck cock in the bushes buk who won’t
2 . M arriage: Marriage is a prime example of a straight institu- go to bed.
/ ‘
tio n fra u g h t with role playing. Traditional marriage is a
If we are liberated we are open with our sfexuality. Closet
r o tte n , oppressive institution. Those of us who have been in queenery must end. Come out.
h e te ro s e x u a l marriages too often have blamed our gayness on
But: in saying come out, we have to have our heads clear
th e b re a k u p o f the marriage. No. They broke up because .about a few things: 1) closet queens are our brothers, and
m a rria g e is a contract which smothers both people, denies must be defended against attacks by straight people; 2) the
fear of coning out is not paranoia; the stakes are high: loss
of family ties, loss of job, loss of straight friends-these are
all reminders that the oppression is not just in our heads. It’s
real. Each of us must make the steps toward openness at our
own speed and on our own impulses. Being open is the
foundation of freedom: it has to be built solidly. 3) “Closet
queen’’ is a broad term covering a multitude of forms of
defense, self-hatred, lack of strength, and habit. We are all
closet queens in some ways, and all of us had to come
out-very few of us were ‘flagrant’ at the age of seven! We
must afford our brothers and sisters the same patience we
afforded ourselves. And while their closet queenery is part of
our oppression, it’s more a part of theirs. They alone can
decide when and how.
IV. ON OPPRESSION
It is important to catalog and understand the different
facets of our oppression. There is no future in arguing about
degrees of oppression. A lot ‘of ‘movement’ types come on
with a line of shit about homosexuals not being oppressed, as
much as blacks or Vietnamese or workers or women. We
don’t happen to fit into their ideas of class or caste. Bull!
When people feel oppressed, they act on that feeling. We feel
oppressed. Talk about the priority of black liberation or
ending imperialism over and above gay liberation is just antigay propaganda.
1.Physical attacks’. We are attacked, beaten, castrated and
left dead! time apd time again. There are half a dozen known
unsolved slayings in San Francisco parks in the last few years.
“Punks” , often of minority groups who look arodnd for
someone? under them socially, feel encouraged to beat up on
“queens” and cops look the other way. That used to be
called lynching.
Cops in most cities have harassed our meeting places: bars
and baths and parks. They set up entrapment squads. A
Berkeley brother was slain by a cop in April when he tried to
split after finding out that the trick who was making advances to him was a cop. Cifies set up ‘pervert’ registration,
which if nothing else scares our brothers deeper into the
closet.
One o f ihe most vicious slurs on us is the blame for prison
‘gang rapes’. These rapes are invariably done by people who
consider themselves straight. The victims of these rapes are us
and straights who can’t defend themselves.’ The press campaign to link prison rapes with homosexuality is an attempt
to make straights fear and despise us, so they can oppress us
more. It’s typical of the fucked-up straight mind to think
that homosexual sex involves tying a guy down and fucking
him. That’s aggression^ not sex. If that’s what sex is for a lot
• of straight people, that’s a problem they have to solve, not
us.
2. Psychological warfare: Right from the beginning we have
been subjected to a barrage of straight propaganda. Since our
parents don’t know any homosexuals, we grow up thinking
i that we’re alone and different and perverted. Our school
friends identify ‘queer’ with any non-conformist or bad be-
havior. Our elementary’ school teachers tell us not to talk to
strangers or accept rides. Television, billboards and magazines
put forth a false idealization of male/female relationships,
and make us wish we were different, wish we were ‘in’. In
family living classKve’re taught how we’re supposed to turn
out. And all along, the best we hear if anything about
homosexuality is that it’s an unfortunate problem.
3. Self-oppression: As gay liberation grows, we will find our
uptight brothers and sisters, particularly those who are
making a buck off our ghetto, coming on strong to defend^
the status quo. This is-seif-oppression: ‘don’t rock the boat’; ’
‘things in SF are OK’; ‘gay people just aren’t together’; ‘I’m
not oppressed’. These lines are right out of the mouths of the
straight establishment. A large part of our oppression would
end if we would stop putting ourselves and our pride down.
4. Institutional: Discrimination against gays is blatant, if we
open our eyes. Homosexual relationships are illegal, and even
if these laws are not regularly enforced, they encourage and
enforce closet queenery. The bulk of the social work,psychiatric field looks upon homosexuality as a problem, and
treats us as sick. Employers let it be known that our skills are
acceptable only as long as our sexuality is hidden. Big business and government are particularly notorious offenders.
The discrimination in the draft and armed services is a
pillar of the general attitude toward gays. If we are willing to
label ourselves publicly not only as homosexual hut a§ sick,
then we qualify for deferment; and if we’re riot ‘discreet’
(disho’nest) we get drummed out of the service. Hell, no, we
won’t go, of course not, but we can’t let the army fuck over
us this way, either.
V. ON SEX
1. KTzzzr sex is: It is both creative expression and communication: good when it is either, and better when it is both. Sex
can also be aggression, and usually is when those involved do
not see each other as equals; and it can also be perfunctory,
when jv.e-are distracted or preoccupied. These uses spoil what
is good about it.
1 like to think of go’od sex in terms of playing the violin:
with both people On one level seeing the other body as an
object capable of creating beauty when they play it well; and
on a second level the players communicating through their
mutual production and appreciation of beauty. As in good
music, you get totally into it-and coming back out of that
state of consciousness is like finishing a work of art or
coming back from an episode of an acid or mescaline trip.
And to press the analogy further: the variety of music is
infinite and varied, depending on the capabilities of the!;
players, both as subjects and as objects. Solos, duets, quartets (symphonies, ,even, if you happen to dig Romantic
music!) are possible. The variations in gender, response, and
bodies are like different instruments. And perhaps-what we
have called sexual ‘orientation’ probably just means that we
have not yet learned to turn on to the total range of musical
expression.
2. Objectification: In this scheme /people are sexual objects,
but they are also subjects, and are human beings who appreciate themselves as object and subject. This use of human
bodies as objects is legitimate (not harmful) only when it is
reciprocal. If one person is always object and the other
subject, it stifles the human being in both of them. Objectification must also be open and frank. By silence we olten
assume or let the other person assume that sex means commitments: if it does, ok; but if not. say it. (Ot course, it’s not
all that simple: om capabilities for manipulation are unfathomed all we can do is try.)
Gay liberation people must understand that women have
been treated exculsively and dishonestly as sexual objects. A
major part of their liberation is to plav down sexual objectification and to develop other aspects of themselves which have
been smothered so long. We respect this. We also understand
that a few liberated women will be appalled or disgusted at
the open and prominent place that we put sex in our lives;
and while this is a natural response from their experience,
they must learn what it means for us.
For us, sexual objectification is a focus of our quest for
freedom, it is precisely that which we are not supposed to
share with each other. Learning how to be open and good
with each other sexually is part of our liberation. And one
obvious distinction: objectifi…
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