As somebody whose first language is German, i can attest that Knabenliebe would correctly be translated as pederasty, not sodomy. Just putting this out for the sake of accuracy, though - these terms were routinely conflated up until a few decades ago, and homophobes still deliberately conflate homosexuality and pedophilia to this day. Saying "they were dunking on pedos, not gays" doesn't work as an excuse when it's common to believe these to be one and the same.
The passage you quote is completely in line with homophobic discourses of their time. When you were a raging homophobe in 19th century Germany, it was a common fear to view queer rights advocacy as something that would lead to a "gay state" where straight men would be forced to "pay bodily tribute to the victors".
Your quote also shows that there were people around who already knew better, both in bourgeoise liberal and socialist parties.
As somebody whose first language is German, i can attest that Knabenliebe would correctly be translated as pederasty, not sodomy. Just putting this out for the sake of accuracy, though - these terms were routinely conflated up until a few decades ago, and homophobes still deliberately conflate homosexuality and pedophilia to this day. Saying "they were dunking on pedos, not gays" doesn't work as an excuse when it's common to believe these to be one and the same.
The passage you quote is completely in line with homophobic discourses of their time. When you were a raging homophobe in 19th century Germany, it was a common fear to view queer rights advocacy as something that would lead to a "gay state" where straight men would be forced to "pay bodily tribute to the victors".
Your quote also shows that there were people around who already knew better, both in bourgeoise liberal and socialist parties.
Absolutey, I know nothing about German. What I meant to point out was Engels and probably Marx conflated the two.
Thanks for saying it better than I did ❤️