Idk what kind of bubble your girlfriend lives in but the Communist movement in Africa as a whole is objectively socially conservative compared to the West. Most Communist parties still hold the line that lgbt identity is degeneracy born out of capitalist alienation. I think they're wrong because scientific understanding of these issues points to that theory being a false assumption. I'm not going to tell them to go fuck themselves because of that though. Their struggle is still deserving of my support and collaboration.

Sure, a lot of people are bigoted, but the bigots are generally also very right-wing and wouldn’t be interested in joining our cause anyway.

Writing off someone immediately like this is an obstacle to mass movements. Some people just need a little push. Some, a bigger push.