May 29, 2026

May 17 — Two anniversaries are fast approaching. One is the anniversary of the historic Stonewall Rebellion. In June of 1969, gay, lesbian and transgender warriors fought back against the New York City police who routinely raided bars in the community, including the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. Trans women of color, like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, were in the leadership.

Every year LGBTQIA2S+ Pride events take place throughout the month of June to honor the legacy of Stonewall.

The other anniversary is the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding on July 4, 1776. It doesn’t just represent 250 years since the so-called “founding fathers” declared themselves independent of the British monarchy. It represents 250 years of capitalist exploitation, including almost 90 years of literal enslavement of people of African descent. And enslavement long predates the Declaration of Independence, as does the ongoing genocidal efforts to exterminate Indigenous people.

White supremacy and genocide continue today.

The 250 years of the U.S.’s existence represents 250 years of oppression of LGBTQIA2S+ people, especially the trans community. Attacks on trans people have multiplied since President Donald Trump took office and instigated a campaign of forced erasure. According to Trans Legislation Tracker, there are currently 773 anti-trans bills under consideration by state legislatures in 43 states. (translegislation.com)

The rights of lesbians and gay men are also threatened. In March the Supreme Court of the U.S. ruled against Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy,” a psychologically harmful practice that tries to forcibly change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. What could come next? A reversal of the SCOTUS decision to allow same-sex marriage? A return of the notorious “anti-sodomy” laws?

All of this is interconnected, and not just by the close chronological proximity of the two anniversaries.

There are many ways that white supremacy, xenophobia, transphobia and homophobia reinforce one another. White supremacy enforces Eurocentric, cis-hetero-patriarchal gender standards, as well as beauty standards, which intensifies the conditions faced by nationally oppressed persons living in a settler-colonialist society. Settler colonialism uses the tool of gender violence to maintain itself and further its attempt to eradicate Indigenous people.

Roots of patriarchal oppression

All oppression — including class oppression, national oppression, gender oppression and anti-LGBTQIA2S+ oppression — is rooted in class society. Friedrich Engels wrote: “The overthrow of mother-right was the world historical defeat of the female sex. The man took command in the home also; the woman was degraded and reduced to servitude, she became the slave of his lust and a mere instrument for the production of children.” (The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, 1884)

Engels traced this “defeat” to the beginning of private property in herds of livestock, which eventually led to the enslavement — and “ownership” — of human beings.

“The Roots of Lesbian and Gay Oppression” by Bob McCubbin, a book first published by Workers World Party as “The Gay Question” in 1976, explained from a Marxist viewpoint how the oppression of LGBTQIA2S+ people also began with the dawn of class society and the enforcement of patriarchal norms.

Every single right that LGBTQIA2S+ people have was won through struggle. Workers World has supported that struggle from day one.

It will take a struggle to retain the rights that are now under merciless attack. That struggle will need to be linked to the struggles against white supremacy, genocide and xenophobia — national oppression imposed by the imperialist ruling class. One place to start could be the pushback against the SCOTUS’s weakening of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The LGBTQIA2S+ movement should have a strong presence in solidarity with communities of color being disenfranchised.

It is also important to act against “pinkwashing” — the attempt to put Zionism in a positive light based on false claims that LGBTQIA2S+ have it good in Israel.

Ultimately, to put an end to all forms of oppression it will take a global working-class movement — one aimed at bringing about the downfall of the capitalist system of exploitation.

That would be a fitting tribute to the veterans of Stonewall — and of the 1966 Compton Cafeteria Riot, led by trans women in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. August will mark the 60th anniversary of the Compton Riot.

Stonewall means fight back!