Draft:LGBT and Pedophilia

Connections between LGBT and Pedophilia can traced back to the very origins of the homosexual rights liberation movement, when the once abominable, widely stigmatized cause was still nascent and persecuted nearly everywhere. While such connections have indeed appeared in early 18th-19th century Uranian literature and pederastic art, physical manifestations of LGBT and Pro-pedophilia associations have also been seen all throughout the 19th century — typically, with their involvement in pro-pedophilia activism and role in the formation of youth liberation groups and organizations.

Uranian Literature and Poetry
Although the acceptance of homosexuality has blossomed nearly everywhere since it's legalization, few know little about how and why Uranians have played a major part in this development throughout the Western world. The Uranians were a group writers who used pederastic fiction — namely through poetry, short stories, and visuals to  — to overcome anti-homosexual prejudice and advocate for same sex love. This form of symbolically worded fiction depicted ancient Greek love between younger adolscent males (pederasts) and older males.

Edwin Emmanuel Bradford
Openly Gay Uranian poet Edwin Emmanuel Bradford, whose prose was exceptionally praised during his lifetime, was an English Clergyman and a modernist and a pioneer of a form of expression that culminated in what came to be known as homoeroticism. He wrote coupius amounts on the constructs of Greek boy-love, be they romantic or erotic, knowing well the influence he would have on the world, though unapologetically and with bravery for stories of homosexuality were often met with public hostility in those days. His works had an academic appeal making them a vital part in reducing the stigma against homosexuality.

One verse from one of his works celebrated the spiritual status of romantic love between men and boys as the highest form of love.

He shares his impression of a bathing boy in the Blue Grotto in several of his poems, one of the most popular ones titled "In Quest of Love". This impression is also found in "The Bather in the Blue Grotto at Capri". It was reprinted in To Boys Unknown (1988) and anthologised in Lad's Love: An anthology of Uranian poetry and prose.

In one of his poems he explicitly links boy love to Christianity: "Is Boy-Love Greek? Far off across the seas / The warm desire of Southern men may be: / But passion freshened by a Northern breeze / Gains in male vigour and in purity. / Our yearning tenderness for boys like these / Has more in it of Christ than Socrates."

While much of Bradford's work is romantic in nature, there are also some erotic ones. One verse of one of his poems contains the following, "Here's a loyal and a loving heart, Take it, lad, or leave it."

A comprehensive coverage of his life and these works can be found in Arch Smith's book.

Lord Alfred Douglas and Oscar Wilde
English poet, Lord Alfred Douglas wrote a number of homoerotic Uranian genre based books. The famous phrase "The love that dare not speak its name" appears in the last line of one of his works, "Two Loves", a (1894 poem) which is now a well known euphemism for homosexuality.

This phrase was mentioned at his lover's(Oscar Wilde) gross indecency trial.

Oscar Wilde, a popular poet and playwright in London who was convicted for homosexuality was the lover of Lord Alfred Douglas. Douglas wrote a book about his relationship with Wilde.

At the trial, Wilde describes the lover referred to by the phrase who is afraid to reveal their name in the following words: "Such a great affection of an elder for a younger man [...] such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy [...] It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect [...] There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an elder and a younger man, when the elder man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him.".

Der Kreis Swiss Gay Magazine
Der Kreis (The Circle), was a Swiss gay magazine which was founded as Freundschaftsbanner a lesbian magazine. Some of their publications included poems and drawings about sexual relationships between older and younger males many of which were circulated globally. Some of this prose is found on the first page, but much more can be found in Chapter 9: 'Man and Boy'.

Activist and Liberation Groups
Numerous key iconic LGBT figures have established or assisted in the establishment of controversial and questionable activist organizations that advocated for more stringent age of consent laws and decriminalization of adult-minor relationships, some of which still exist today.

NAMBLA
One renowned LGBT figure who has had long important histories of fighting for gay rights is David Thorstad. He is famously credited with the publication and pioneering of a one of a kind book titled "The Early Homosexual Rights Movement: (1864-1935)", a historical survey bringing attention to the long, arduous and historic German battle of the gay liberation movement. He was also a former president of the New York's Gay Activists Alliance.

However, Thorstad has been long criticized for founding NAMBLA, a youth rights advocacy association that is strongly opposed to age of consent laws and staying active in its leadership.

In a speech at an event named Lesbian-Gay Cultural week in Mexico City, he declared in a standing room to an audience that "Pederasty is the main form that male homosexuality has acquired throughout Western civilization - and not only in the West! Pederasty is inseparable from the high points of Western culture - ancient Greece and the Renaissance.". The manuscript of the speech is currently on a page of the NAMBLA website.

The Paedophile Information Exchange
Ian Dunn, a noted gay rights activist and leading contributor of the Gay News newspaper formed the Scottish Minorities group in Glasgow in 1969, one of the only British gay activists organizations during that time.

Him with the help of other members of the ILGA who are in direct collaboration with LGBT groups co-founded the Paedophile Information Exchange, a prominent youth liberation activist group with a mission to abolish the age of consent laws around the world. However, they recently issued a public statement indicating that they, "do not advocate to eliminate or lower the general age of consent."

Publications and Projects
Gay rights activists have played a central role in the production of some publications, projects, and other print materials on pedophilia from the earliest beginnings of homosexual liberation. Some historcial gay publications – while not about pedophilia advocacy per se  –  have also ocasionally been found to contain some text demonstrating support of youth liberation rights and age of consent reformation (e.g booklets and journals).

The Paedophile Information Booklet
In December 1975, a British Gay Charity named Albany Trust hosted meetings with the Paedophile Information Exchange and the Paedophile Action for Liberation organization discussing the need for support groups for adults who were attracted to minors and an information booklet about pedophilia primarily geared to professionals, parents, and the public. The Albany Trust received public funding for the project and the booklet was to be produced by the Trust. Conservative activist and British teacher Mary Whitehouse made a statement criticizing this collaboration during a public speech. Consequently, the Albany Trust cancelled the project in 1977. however, PIE and PAL did not receive public funding directly.

Gay Left Magazine
A popular socialist journal produced and edited by a collective of gay men was published every six months in London between 1975 and 1980. Some of the gays who were involved in the launch of this journal were once part of the former Gay Liberation Front and a Gay Marxist group.

In issues 7 and 8 of the journal, a number of progressive left-wing takes on adult-youth relationships were offered. On page 14 of issue 8 a paragraph starts out saying, "paedophilia" is far from universally stigmatised, or even recognised as a condition needing categorisation".

Issue 10 includes a segment by a pro-paedophile rights advocate Thomas O'Carroll and chairman of the PIE.

Individual LGBT Activists
Many individual activists who have been a part of the foundation of LGBT rights have shown their support of adult-youth sexuality through things they have said and/or demonstrated this through their actions. Some of them are still openly accepted and respected by society.

Michel Foucault
Had a great deal of influence on queer theory with some even claiming he is one of it's founders. His representation of the social make up of sexualities has affected feminist theorists such as Judith Butler, who using the help of his theories questioned gendered subjects.

In an interview, he argued that young adults are capable of giving sexual consent He was one of the signatories of a January 1977 petition to French parliment calling for decriminliazation of all sexual relations between adults and people below 15 if they were deemed "consensual".

Kate Millett
American feminist writer and activist Kate Millet was among members of CR One, the first lesbian-feminist consciousness raising group and the Radical lesbians  She came out as a lesbian in 1970, but then later announced that she was actually bisexual. In 1980, work was exhibited in the Great American Lesbian Art Show.

Although she heavily contributed to early lesbian rights there is a lot of evidence showing that she supported the rights of young people to pursue relationships with adults. Some of her supporting commentary can be found in the Beyond Politics? Children and Sexuality section of Carole Vances book "Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality.

Millet states that "Sex itself is presented as a crime to children. It is how adults control children, how they forbid them sexuality. Despite the degree of sexual activity that actually goes on among children, I think adults have been all too effective, not only in poisoning sexuality but also in preventing children from understanding or experiencing it."

More statements can be found in support of these relationships:

1. "Intergenerational sex could perhaps in the future be a wonderful opportunity for understanding between human beings".

2. "It is difficult therefore to imagine the sexual emancipation of children without coming to understand how necessary are other forms of emancipation as well, all parts of progressive social change in years to come. That children have autonomy - that they do not belong to their biological parents, that they have a right to money, to a choice in where they live, that they are not property, that they are not slaves, that they belong to themselves - is a most revolutionary idea."

More of her sentiments are echoed in a 1980 interview, where she states that, "one of children's essential rights is to express themselves sexually, probably primarily with each other but with adults as well. So the sexual freedom of children is an important part of a sexual revolution."

Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir was a bisexual philosopher, writer, feminist, and social theorist whose relationships with young women were controversial. She was one of the signatories of a January 1977 petition that advocated for the abolition of age of consent laws in France. She also campaigned for the release of people who were convicted of engaging in sexual acts with minors.