BY “THE SITUATION” we* have in mind the current state of American politics and LGBT rights. But because things are changing so rapidly, and because this is a bimonthly magazine, we cannot hope to provide an up-to-date analysis of “the situation” as it tumbles out of one man’s head (or so it seems). What we can do is to look at current events in light of historical precedents and ongoing social trends. Following an initial interview with trans writer and activist Jennifer Finney Boylan, who discusses the current state of danger for transgender people in the U.S., the articles appear in roughly chronological order.
Two pieces highlight the centrality of Germany as an early bastion of LGBT activism starting in the late 19th century, when “homosexuals” emerged as a social type to be studied or treated or liberated. By the time of the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), a fledgling liberation movement had emerged in Berlin and elsewhere, with Magnus Hirschfeld as its intellectual guru. Mathias Foit examines this movement and draws nine lessons from its rise and fall that might be relevant to these times. Hopes for liberation were crushed by the Nazis and put on hold until after the war, but even then, as Keira Roberson explains, rebuilding an LGBT movement was slow in both East and West Germany, and homosexuality was still illegal until the late 1960s.
A notably dark period occurred in the U.S. in the postwar period of Cold War and McCarthyism and the “Red Scare,” a witch hunt for alleged communists that expanded into a “Lavender Scare” with homosexuals as its prey. Ronald O. Valdiserri takes us through this era of naming names and ruining careers and finds some disturbing parallels with the current state of politics in America.
These historical episodes are relatively easy to understand because we know how things turned out. Living through such times is another matter, filled with confusing developments whose significance cannot be known. Thus, for example, Eli Erlick reports on a surprising trend: people who identify as transgender but support the agenda of the far Right and actively oppose that of the LGBT mainstream. One such individual, Buck Angel, a former porn star who has aligned himself with Trump and white supremacy, has quite a following.
The movement to ban LGBT books from public libraries and schools began a few years ago, but the new administration has given it a major boost. Gianna Holiday documents some of the state and local efforts and shows how the federal government has assumed the role of book-banner in chief, with targets ranging from the Smithsonian Institution to government websites to Harvard University. Who knows where it all will end?
*This issue was effectively co-edited by me and Jereny C. Fox, who did the major legwork on the feature articles.
