A Tale of Two Movements?: Gay Radicalism in West Germany, 1969-1989

Ronald Van Cleef

doi:10.5771/9783748959380

Summary

A Tale of Two Movements focuses on the Schwulenbewegung (gay liberation movement) in the Federal Republic of Germany between 1969 and 1989. The movement has been characterized by both activists and critics as representing a clear rupture with earlier forms of homosexual activism while also being bitterly divided between so called anti-capitalist radicals and reformist-oriented integrationists. Similar critiques have been applied to the New Left in general which is often presented as a collection of social movements divided by identities, ideologies and national boundaries. This book does not dispute that activists within the Schwulenbewegung were internally divided over certain issues; however, it does complicate this existing interpretation by discussing the social scientific, political, and gender-based theories that both influenced and challenged the movement alongside the history of its development.