Elite-Led Mobilization and Gay Rights

Elite-Led Mobilization and Gay Rights
Author: Benjamin George Bishin
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2021-09-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0472129325

Media and scholastic accounts describe a strong public opinion backlash—a sharply negative and enduring opinion change—against attempts to advance gay rights. Academic research, however, increasingly questions backlash as an explanation for opposition to LGBT rights. Elite-Led Mobilization and Gay Rights argues that what appears to be public opinion backlash against gay rights is more consistent with elite-led mobilization—a strategy used by anti-gay elites, primarily white evangelicals, seeking to prevent the full incorporation of LGBT Americans in the polity in order to achieve political objectives and increase political power. This book defines and tests the theory of Mass Opinion Backlash and develops and tests the theory of Elite-Led Mobilization by employing a series of online and natural experiments, surrounding the U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Obergefell v. Hodges and United States v. Windsor, and President Obama’s position change on gay marriage. To evaluate these theories, the authors employ extensive survey, voting behavior, and campaign finance data, and examine the history of the LGBT movement and its opposition by religious conservatives, from the Lavender Scare to the campaign against Trans Rights in the defeat of Houston’s 2015 HERO ordinance. Their evidence shows that opposition to LGBT rights is a top-down process incited by anti-gay elites rather than a bottom-up reaction described by public opinion backlash.

The Politics of Perverts

The Politics of Perverts
Author: Charles Anthony Smith
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2024-06-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1479822752

Reveals the underexplored politics and activism of non-traditional sexual minorities Over the past four decades, there has been significant research focused on the political and social lives of lesbian, gay, and transgender (LGT) individuals, exploring how these sexual communities interact with politicians and voters who identify as straight. However, due to society’s binary view of sexuality, this research has overlooked non-traditional sexual minorities. To address this omission, The Politics of Perverts delves into the political attitudes and activities of individuals who identify with non-traditional sexual orientations and practices, such as Polyamory, BDSM, the Furry Fandom, Nudism, and the large bisexual population within these communities. These groups face similar discrimination, stigma, and lack of legal protections in various aspects of life. The authors shed light on the political identities, affiliations, and attitudes of these communities in the United States, revealing how sexuality and politics are even more deeply intertwined at the margins of society. Despite facing challenges, these communities actively engage in political discussions and activities in hopes of fostering greater inclusivity, better representation, and more informed policies.

Value War

Value War
Author: Paul Ryan Brewer
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2008
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780742562110

In Value War: Public Opinion and the Politics of Gay Rights, Paul R. Brewer looks at how the public debate about gay rights has shaped public opinion and conversely how public opinion has shaped the public debate about gay rights. Using a variety of methods, including polls, experimentation, and content analysis, he shows how the nature of public debate_which encompasses news stories, television sitcoms, presidential speeches, and sermons by local clergy_has influenced what and how Americans think about gay rights. He also shows how public opinion has created opportunities and obstacles for foes and advocates of gay rights by defining the very terms and boundaries of the public debate. Brewer's analysis not only sheds new light on how the politics of gay rights has evolved in recent years and may evolve in the future, it also illuminates the broader tensions in American politics, from the culture war over social issues to the struggle over civil rights.

Queer Mobilizations

Queer Mobilizations
Author: Scott Barclay
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2009-09
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0814791301

"This innovative collection of essays delves into the complex relationships between social movements and legal institutions. The essays creatively address the contradictory goals in the battles for social change by LGBT movements and the normalization that can often result from legal decisions. (Peter M. Nardi)--Cover, page 4.

The Path to Gay Rights

The Path to Gay Rights
Author: Jeremiah J. Garretson
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2018-06-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1479850071

"[A] data-driven explanation of how public opinion shifted on LGBTQ rights"--Amazon.com.

The Politics of Gay Rights

The Politics of Gay Rights
Author: Craig A. Rimmerman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2000-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780226719986

The contributors to this volume thoroughly investigate the politics of the gay and lesbian movement, beginning with its political organizations and tactics. The essays also address the strategies and ideology of conservative opposition groups.

Transgender Rights and Politics

Transgender Rights and Politics
Author: Jami Kathleen Taylor
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2014-10-14
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0472072358

A theoretically grounded and methodically sophisticated empirical analysis of transgender politics

The Lesbian and Gay Movements

The Lesbian and Gay Movements
Author: Craig A Rimmerman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2018-05-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0429972423

Throughout their relatively short history, lesbian and gay movements in the United States have endured searing conflicts over whether to embrace assimilationist or liberationist strategies. The Lesbian and Gay Movements explores this dilemma in both contemporary and historical contexts, describing the sources of these conflicts, to what extent the conflicts have been resolved, and how they might be resolved in future. Rimmerman also tackles the challenging issue of what constitutes movement 'effectiveness' and how 'effective' the assimilationist and liberationist strategies have been in three contentious policy arenas: the military ban, same-sex marriage, and AIDS. Considerable attention is devoted to how policy elites (presidents, federal and state legislatures, courts) have responded to the movements' grievances. Since the publication of the first edition in 2007, there have been enormous changes in the landscape of lesbian and gay movements and rights. The thoroughly revised second edition includes updated discussion of LGBT movements' undertakings in, as well the Obama administration's response to, AIDS/HIV policy, the fight to legalize same-sex marriage and overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, and the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'.

Don't Tell Me to Wait

Don't Tell Me to Wait
Author: Kerry Eleveld
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2015-10-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0465073492

From an award-winning political journalist, the story of how LGBT activists pushed Obama to embrace gay rights -- transforming his presidency in the process Gay rights has been a defining progressive issue of Barack Obama's presidency: Congress repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell in 2010 with his strong support, and in 2011, he instructed his Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, helping to pave the way for a series of Supreme Court decisions that ultimately legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. This rapid succession of victories is astonishing by any measure -- and is especially incredible considering that when Obama first took office he, like many politicians, still viewed gay rights as politically toxic. In 2008, for instance, he opposed full marital rights for same-sex couples, calling marriage a "sacred union" between a man and a woman. It wasn't until 2012, in the heat of his reelection campaign, that Obama finally embraced marriage equality. In Don't Tell Me to Wait, former Advocate reporter Kerry Eleveld shows that Obama's transformation from cautious gradualist to gay rights champion was the result of intense pressure from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists. These men and women changed the conversation issue by issue, pushing the president and the country toward greater freedom for LGBT Americans. Drawing on years of research and reporting, Eleveld tells the dramatic story of the fight for gay rights in America, detailing how activists pushed the president to change his mind, turned the tide of political opinion, and set the nation on course to finally embrace LGBT Americans as full citizens of this country. With unprecedented access and unparalleled insights, Don't Tell Me to Wait captures a critical moment in American history and demonstrates the power of activism to change the course of a presidency-and a nation.

Rethinking the Gay and Lesbian Movement

Rethinking the Gay and Lesbian Movement
Author: Marc Stein
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2022-11-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000685721

Now in its second edition, Rethinking the Gay and Lesbian Movement provides an accessible overview of an important and transformational struggle for social change, highlighting key individuals and events, influential groups and organizations, major successes and failures, and the movement’s lasting effects and unfinished work. Focusing on four decades of social, cultural, and political change in the second half of the twentieth century, Marc Stein examines the changing agendas, beliefs, strategies, and vocabularies of a movement that encompassed diverse actions, campaigns, ideologies, and organizations. From the homophile activism of the 1950s and 1960s through the rise of gay liberation and lesbian feminism in the 1970s to the multicultural and AIDS activist movements of the 1980s, this book provides a strong foundation for understanding gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer politics today. This new edition reflects the substantial changes in the field since the book’s original publication eleven years ago. Rethinking the Gay and Lesbian Movement will be valued by everyone interested in LGBTQ struggles, the politics of movement activism, and the history of social justice in the United States.