Capitalists Wage Class War Against LGBTQ+ Workers with ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill

Photo: Business Insider

In late February of 2022, the Governor of Texas issued a directive to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to consider all gender-affirming care given to minors as “child abuse,” the latest in a series of anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives in that state. On March 2, 2022, the Florida Senate passed HB 1557, known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits teaching children from kindergarten to third grade about “gender or sexual orientation.” On March 28, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed it into law. While HB 1557’s stated intention is to give parents more control over their children's education, it is seen by many as an attack on LGBTQ+ youth. Across the United States, similar measures are gaining traction, as legislators try to censor discussion around LGBTQ+ issues and even criminalize LGBTQ+ persons themselves. 

Class Roots of Bigotry

Rather than simply being a cultural phenomenon or arising from prejudice, anti-LGBTQ+ ideology is produced and reinforced by capitalism. While many forms of prejudice and bigotry serve to create division and competition between workers, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is also tied to the way capitalist social reproduction works; that is, how capitalism sustains itself and creates new workers to exploit.

Capitalist ideology categorizes people into male and female; not because of some biological truth, but because capitalism needs workers to reproduce and create more workers. The capitalist family structure — with the man as the head of the household and primary wage laborer, the woman as caretaker, and the children treated as the property of their parents — serves to create boundaries between people and discourage community. The capitalist family structure also helps to indoctrinate people to capitalism itself; the family is seen as an investment, where one’s property and prosperity are tied to their family and children, further enforcing those divisions and causing people to strive towards individual success, rather than collective wellbeing.

Additionally, bosses and corporations are allowed to freely discriminate against LGBTQ+ workers, creating further competition and serving to reduce solidarity between workers.

It is true that in recent decades we have seen some progressive measures and sentiment towards LGBTQ+ people; the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, many celebrities and politicians coming out, representation in media, etc. But these measures do nothing to address the underlying causes; they are simply lip service, as seen by the anti-LGBTQ+ bills and laws sweeping the country. In the case of LGBTQ+ CEOs and celebrities, a stark class division becomes obvious; the gay and trans members of the capitalist class primarily act for the good of their class, rather than for all LGBTQ+ people. People like Ellen DeGeneres and RuPaul are more concerned with their wealth and status; working-class LGBTQ+ people have infinitely more in common with our cis, straight class siblings than we do a gay senator.

The Workers Struggle and LGBTQ+ Rights

Rather than representation in TV and movies or toothless laws that can be overturned by capitalist politicians, we need a society run by workers, not capitalists. We need a system where workers produce for the common good, rather than to generate profit for the few; where rights to food, housing, and medical care are enshrined for all rather than being given as scraps.

A workers' state is truly of the working people, by the working people, and for the working people; when individuals no longer have the power to enact social change based on what will line their pockets and labor is instead dedicated to collective welfare, many forms of discrimination will disappear. Since the vast majority of LGBTQ+ people are working class, true worker control would mean that their voices would be truly heard and their needs met, rather than passively acknowledged or paid lip service to by bosses and corporations. The collective security of our class ensures the wellbeing of all, rather than the power and privilege of the few. 

Though the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community continue to intensify, so too does the class struggle. As workers, we greatly outnumber the capitalists, and if we unite and organize, we can smash the capitalist state. We have nothing to lose but our chains.