To tackle homophobia and safeguard LGBTQ+ rights we have to address wealth inequality and poverty

Have you noticed how quiet Pride has become? Pride mentions on social media have fallen substantially for the past two years. Pride in London has become embroiled in a highly publicised scandal over misuse of funds. The rights of trans people are being questioned all over the world. We are in the midst of an historic reversal of hard won LGBT+ rights. But it’s not happening for the reason you might think. 

We’re used to the idea that activism solves civil rights problems. From Martin Luther King to gay rights activist Harvey Milk to Peter Tatchell, we heroise those who’ve fought for our freedoms. 

But this also led us to think that it is activists opposed to LGBT+ rights that are causing the decline of Pride and the rollback of freedoms. We have come to blame Nigel Farage, Reform and the Christian right. The assumption is that LGBT+ rights are being rolled back because of the success of activists on the opposing side. But there is a more sinister force at work, one which is harder to stop.

History has a lesson to teach us. LGBT+ rights have existed in previous times and been taken away. Experts believe that Ancient Greece, thousands of years ago, had gay marriage. The ancient Middle East had similar tolerance for queer people, including them in temples. There is a reason these societies stopped supporting queer people, one we can learn from. 

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It wasn’t religion either. Christian societies have supported queer rights in the past. Renaissance Florence went through a period of acceptance of same-sex couples and a relaxation of laws in the 14th century. In Boston, Massachusetts, in the 18th and 19th centuries, queer people even married one another in so-called ‘Boston marriages’. 

So what was so special about Boston and Florence? These were societies which went through a sudden drop in wealth inequality, the measure of the gap between the richest and the poorest. Most people were well off and the gap was relatively small. 

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Following the Black Death, wealth was redistributed and inequality dropped. What followed was a relaxation of laws attacking same-sex sex. Boston in the 18th century was a relatively egalitarian place – when historians study wealth inequality, they often use Boston as an example of a relatively equal place. 

By contrast, when wealth inequality rises following economic shocks, hatred against queer people follows. Ancient Athens lost its protection for same-sex rights following a sudden risen in inequality and war. The law codes of Leviticus, in the Bible, were written directly after an invasion. They condemn gay people. 

We are living through a time when billionaires and large corporations are making more money than ever. We are living through a time of stagflation, when ordinary people find their money goes less far than it used to. Following a series of economic shocks, we are seeing the decline of LGBT+ rights. This is completely consistent with history. Indeed, historians expected this would happen. The question is – why?

When people are poor, they spend less. They exercise restraint. They are less likely to splurge on things they want. This makes society on the whole desire fewer things, a simpler world. In studies on human psychology we also find that when people are poorer their sex drive goes down. Poorer societies are less likely to celebrate sexuality and much more likely to want easy-to-understand ways of thinking about men and women. Queer people, whose sexuality and gender often does not fit into neat categories, come under attack. 

We are living in times of unprecedented wealth inequality. This explains the rollback of LGBT+ rights and opposition to them. But why hasn’t it gone faster? 

For most of history, debt has been feared. But most people now have a credit card. People have mortgages. Debt is part of our society. Additionally, the welfare state provides a cushion against destitution for those who know how to navigate it. All these factors are protecting LGBT+ rights somewhat against the total destruction that history might have predicted. 

If we want to safeguard LGBT+ rights, it is not enough to attack anti-LGBT+ activists. They are not the cause of this change, they are a symptom. We have to address wealth inequality and we have to address poverty. If we do that, history tells us that LGBT+ people will be able to live more freely. 

The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer Loveby Harry Tanner is out now (Bloomsbury, £12.99). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.

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