'The homosexual is essential to the sexual revolution; there can be no revolution, no liberation, without us.' Australia's Gay Liberation movement arose at a time, when revolution was in the air and gays, wanted to be part of it. It was the Left, which had a theory and practice of revolution, Marxism. But, it is often asserted that the Left was backward and even hostile, that Marxism had no tradition of dealing with sexual oppression. This book challenges those claims and shows that the Left, and the working class, was involved in the earliest gay rights movements and was integral to the new Gay Liberation Movement. It also refutes the claim that the Left has no intellectual tools to explain the oppression of women and gays. The book uncovers the rich history of the Left and Gay Liberation in Australia, an inspiration for activists today.
