INDIVIDUAL IDENTITIES, COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES, AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE POLITICAL LEFT AND GAY LIBERATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

This article examines the ideological connections between the Left and the gay movement from the 1930s to the 1970s. Using the concepts of spillover, spin-off, and collective identity, I develop a model of social movement connections and splits that stresses the dialectical relationship between the individual identities of social movement participants and the collective identity of the movement within different organizational structures. Using this model, I argue that the organizational centralization of the Old Left in the Communist Party prevented early “gay” activists from extending the collective identity of the Left to accommodate issues of same-sex oppression; alternatively, the organizational fluidity of the New Left encouraged a more flexible understanding of collective identity, and same-sex oppression was incorporated into the rhetoric, albeit in a limited way and for a brief period. This model not only helps to identify the ideological innovations of the gay movement but also contributes to the...

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