A bit belatedly, let me mark the passing of Betty Friedan, the long-time activist whose 1963 book "The Feminine Mystique" launched the contemporary feminist movement. The linkage between what was known as the "women's liberation" movement and the genesis of the post-Stonewall gay movement will long be debated, although it's worth noting that, infamously, as remembered here, "in 1969 Friedan delivered her first public attack on lesbianism, labeling it a 'lavender menace' that would tarnish the entire feminist agenda. Enraged, many lesbians quit NOW."
Friedan lost that battle, as lesbians (and lesbian rights) became central to the women's movement.
As to the claim that feminism was the catalyst for the fight for gay equality, I'd argue that the most important precursor for the gay movement was the sexual revolution-and that the liberation of sex from marriage and procreation helped instigate both '70s-era feminism and a more tolerant attitude toward homosexuality. That is, both "women's lib" and "gay lib" were part of that era's sexual "soup," though certainly early gay rebels took inspiration from feminists, as well as from anti-war protestors, civil rights activists and others.
Yet while feminism certainly challenged the rigid gender conformism that is a basis of homophobia, for a time in the late '70s and '80s the Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon faction was so anti-male-sexuality that it backed the notorious Meese Commission and made common cause with Christian fundamentalists to pass anti-pornography statutes (here's a critique from a pro-sex feminist). Clearly, this brand of feminism had turned completely against the ethos of sexual liberation that helped launched the gay movement, embracing a kind of sexual puritanism that, in demonizing male sexuality, helped demonize gay men.
Today, of course, gay activists strongly back the women's
movement in what has become its central crusade: protecting
partial-birth abortion on demand for minors without parental
notification (preferably taxpayer-funded). And the women's movement
is happy to support gay equality,
except when a pro-abortion-rights candidate decides to reach
out to the center by not supporting gay
equality.
Comments worth noting. From EssEM:
The effect of feminism on gay men has been mixed. There is a deep strain of androphobia in feminism and gay men have imbibed a lot of it. Too many of us tend to avoid thinking of ourselves as men, and by that I mean not just male humans, but adult males who are neither women, girls or boys. We get blinded by all the jargon about patriarchal oppression and become alienated from ourselves.
From Jim G:
I think EssEm says it best for me. As a 52 year old gay man I lived through the sexual revolution and became used to (though uncomfortably) hearing "women's rights" and "gay rights" used in the same sentence. I came to the conclusion that this happened because we were supposed to be sharing the same enemy, "the heterosexual male."
I eventually "left the Left" because I was tired of hearing about the oppression of the Patriarchy, how if I was compassionate, just, understanding it was because I was in touch with my "feminine side" and of course all the other negative attributes were that "other side." i.e. masculine. The phrase "behind every great man is a great woman" developed a subtext which said..."unless he was doing something bad, then he was acting on his own, the Patriarchal slob."
I heard how men were the competitive, aggressive ones (not posed as a compliment) though whoever said that never worked in an office full of women. Women would tell me how terrible men were when they were in positions of power, but when I mentioned Mary Tudor, Catherine DeMedici, even Elizabeth the First (to name just a few) I would get the blank stare.
And on and on. Aside from the depictions of American Indians that I received as a child, I believe that feminism ranks right up there as one of the great lies of my lifetime.