Love's Next Meeting

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Well before Stonewall, a diverse group of sexual dissidents leveraged their marginal status to engage in leftist movements. Sensitive to their own sexual marginalization, they witnessed the severe class inequalities of the Great Depression, including the bread lines and riots. They actively participated in radical labor campaigns, expressed sympathy for the early Soviet Union, supported the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, opposed state harassment, fought against racial discrimination, and aligned with the dispossessed. Regardless of their sexual orientation, they brought discussions of sexual dissidence and radicalism to the forefront during the Left's cultural peak in America. Through rich archival research and innovative analysis of art and literature, the work examines the interplay between homosexuality and the Left from 1920 to 1960. Author Aaron S. Lecklider reveals a vibrant array of individuals and expressive works that showcase progressive attitudes towards homosexuality among radicals, workers, and the impoverished. Leftists intertwined sexual dissidence with radical gender politics, antiracism, and challenges to censorship throughout the 1920s and 1930s. This effort laid the groundwork for a radical movement that shaped homosexual lives and forged new political identities, addressing key questions in American history regarding socialism and the ongoing tensions between leftist and identity politics. The narrat