"Gay Equals Left?": Conservatism in Male Homosexual Politics in 1970s West Germany and the United States

Abstract: The history of gay liberation in the 1970s has primarily been told through the prism of radical or left-alternative activists, focusing on groups like the Gay Liberation Front in New York or the Homosexual Action West Berlin. Complicating this narrative, this article analyses "cultures of conservatism" in male homosexual politics, comparing the Federal Republic with the United States in the 1970s. Zooming in on discourses of responsibility and caution, while focusing on the identifications of some gay men as "ordinary" and "sensible," and their rejection of confrontation and flamboyance, this article shows that concepts such as "liberation," "emancipation," or even "gay power" have no fixed meanings, far less meanings that are inherently "radical" or "conservative."