FROM REVOLUTION TO INVOLUTION - THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE GAY MOVEMENTIN FRANCE

This essay sketches the development of the modern French gay movement in relation to its political context, in particular to the French Soci alist Party. The author argues that its curvilinear development-the mo vement started very modestly in the 1950s, spread within small, radica l left-wing circles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, peaked around 1 980, and declined rapidly in the course of the 1980s-can be explained by the ups and downs in political repression on the one hand and polit ical support and success on the other.