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Thumbnail is from the Bohemian Rhapsody movie where multiple scenes depicting same sex relations were removed by the Chinese government
Their historic figures and modern anti-Western states they so vehemently defend all have abysmal, actively hostile records and attitudes regarding LGBTQ+ rights and representation, with prosecution and state-sanctioned execution.
Their modern “anti-imperialist” states, which they frequently defend and look up to as bastions of their takes, are all steeped in state-sanctioned homophobia and illegality of queer identities.
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China: The government systematically censors LGBTQ+ representation in media (check the thumbnail spoiler above) and shuts down queer NGOs, framing them as “foreign influences.” Same-sex couples are denied legal recognition, marriage, and adoption rights. The government actively censors people who openly discuss and advocate for the lack of rights and recognition for LGBTQ+ communities, not even allowing depictions of gay relationships in their media.
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Russia: The State has explicitly outlawed the “international LGBT movement” by classifying it as an extremist organisation. Expressing queer identity publicly or portraying it positively in media is illegal and heavily penalised. There are gay people who are beaten in the street who dare hold hands with each other, afforded no protection or rights. They don’t allow marriage or gender identity.
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Iran and Hamas: Here the situation is lethal, where under these regimes, homosexuality is criminalised and punishable by imprisonment, torture and even state-sanctioned executions.
Then you have Marxist-Leninist figures, the architects and leaders, who were just as hostile to queer identity and LGBTQ people, calling being gay a Western deviancy and sending them to camps or killing them.
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You have Stalin, who reversed the decriminalisation of homosexuality after the revolution, recriminalising it and calling it a symptom of bourgeois decadence and fascist depravity, where if you were openly gay, you were at risk of being sent to gulags or killed.
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Mao Zedong heavily persecuted homosexuality during the Cultural Revolution, wherein later the State punished gay individuals under vague criminal charges of hooliganism and treating homosexuality as a mental illness by Western Capitalism.
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Fidel Castro, of course, said that “a homosexual cannot be a revolutionary.” And his government subsequently rounded up gay men to send them to labour camps, and otherwise viewed queer identities as unfit for socialist society.
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Friedrich Engels mocked homosexual rights, calling its subjects “extremely against nature” and dismissing gay rights as “turning smut into theory.” Marx received and circulated the letter without objection.
And then you have something much more local: Lemmy Developer, Nutomic, with their own moment: “The transgender topic is clearly promoted by the bourgeoisie, going as far as putting lgbt flags on government buildings, or allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports at the Olympics.”
Given all this, why would any queer person align themselves with an ideology whose foundational leaders persecuted them, and whose modern bastions or allies actively seek to erase them?
Note: This post is not defending Capitalism, or attacking Communism.
about the censoring of LGBTQ+, we actively do it in the west, theres just two different camps here. ones pushing it, and the ones trying to censor it.
ive been in meetings where networks and studios routinely want to “reduce” the presence of gay characters and representation, ive also been in meetings where they push LGBTQ issues hard as hell. it all depends on the current court of oublic opinion.
this issue we have here is that we assume our own governments dont actively attack LGBTQ+ people when it suits them, or prop them up when they are valuable. they view them as a commodity, just like they view every consumer and worker.
the difference here is that in the west, we follow whats profitable at the time, and the flow of capital dictates who is allowed rights this week, or not. entirely based on what is is ultimately the most profitable outcome for shareholders.
a few years ago you could proudly be gay as hell, and it was relatively normal, and you felt relatively safe. but then it became even more annoying to right wingers seeing gay people out, happy, safe, and accepted. while they still felt isolated and miserable, and the tides of capital flowed to tip the scales once again. now we have the manisphere, resurging anti LGBTQ rhetoric, and a whole laundry list of divisive, toxic masculinity issues that have made the west much more unsafe for queer folk.
measuring someones safety by their ability to appear commonly on mass media, isnt necessarily reflective of reality. reality doesnt live inside your phone or on a screen. its made of infinite moments you arent privy to, and that you will never understand until you live through it yourself.
i sonder often about these things. however, i dont really have to. as an alphabet people member, ive lived my entire life here. and i can assure you, it can be just as dangerous to be queer in the west as it can anywhere else in the world. my father told me of the “fag drags” they did back in the 80s, where people would routinely scope out gay hookup spots, and beat the shit out of queer people, sometimes even hooking them up to vehicles and dragging them for a while. hence the term “fag drag”, going so far as to beat some of them so badly they would eventually die of their wounds, and it would get brushed under the rug. simply because they were gay.
but the thing is, this still happens today, here, in the west. LGBTQ people are murdered here every single day, just for being different.
so lets not pretend we are some “bastion of freedom”. obviously it could be worse, but its still not great here. and its only getting worse as days go by. trans people are labelled as potential terrorists for fucks sake.