Marla Brettschneider - LGBTQ Politics: A Critical Reader

LGBTQ POLITICS

LGBTQ Politics

A Critical Reader

Edited by
Marla Brettschneider
Susan Burgess
Christine Keating

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York

www.nyupress.org

2017 by New York University

All rights reserved

References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Brettschneider, Marla, editor. | Burgess, Susan, 1961- editor. | Keating, Christine, editor.

Title: LGBTQ politics : a critical reader / edited by Marla Brettschneider, Susan Burgess, and Christine Keating.

Other titles: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer politics

Description: New York : New York University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017003765 | ISBN 9781479893874 (cl : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781479834099 (pb : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Sexual minoritiesPolitical activity. | Sexual minoritiesCivil rights. | Sexual minoritiesPolitical activityUnited States. | Sexual minoritiesCivil rightsUnited States.

Classification: LCC HQ 76.5 . L 49 2017 | DDC 306.76dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017003765

New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.

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Also available as an ebook

To Shane Phelan, with deepest gratitude for your work and friendship

CONTENTS

Marla Brettschneider, Susan Burgess, and Christine Keating

Marla Brettschneider

Zein Murib

B Lee Aultman and Paisley Currah

J. Ricky Price

Kimala Price

Charles Anthony Smith, Shawn Schulenberg, and Eric A. Baldwin

Joseph Nicholas DeFilippis and Ben Anderson-Nathe

Sean Cahill

Marla Brettschneider

Angelia R. Wilson

Martha Ackelsberg

Susan Burgess and Anna Sampaio

Barry L. Tadlock and Jami K. Taylor

Jyl Josephson and Thas Marques

Susan Burgess

Jeremiah J. Garretson

Donald P. Haider-Markel and Patrick R. Miller

Ravi K. Perry and X. Loudon Manley

Paul Snell

Mandi Bates Bailey and Steven P. Nawara

Susan Burgess

Courtenay W. Daum

Ellen Ann Andersen

Jerry D. Thomas

Jason Stodolka

Christine Keating

Julie Moreau

Miriam Smith

Cynthia Burack

Christina Kiel and Megan E. Osterbur

Christine Keating

Gary Mucciaroni

Judy Rohrer

Melissa Meade and Rye Young

Heath Fogg Davis

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are enormously grateful to the many activists and political scientists whose work has forwarded the LGBTQ movement over the years. Since they are too numerous to mention by name, we sincerely hope it suffices to say that truly, this volume would have been impossible without their devotion and generosity to the cause. Extra special thanks to Shane Phelan, to whom this volume is dedicated. Shanes visionary thinking made it possible for lesbians to become more visible in political science, no small feat, creating a regular meeting place for us, and other disciplinary outcasts, in our intellectual home away from home: the Western Political Science Associations Feminist Theory Pre-Conference.

Editing this collection was a labor, but it was a real labor of love. It deepened our appreciation of each others talents and strengthened the bonds of friendship between us. While we were working on this volume, each of us faced difficult challenges, including the deaths and serious illnesses of family members and friends, and we were buoyed by each others support and intellectual companionship. The wisdom, energy, and goodwill of those who contributed essays to this volume were phenomenal. Some have said that editing a collection such as this is like herding cats. To that we say: we love cats! Ilene Kalish and Caelyn Cobb at NYU Press are exceptional editors whose expertise and support made it possible for us to see the work through from start to finish. If fortune smiles on us, well all be working together again on a second edition before too long.

Marla offers many thanks to the University of New Hampshire Womens Studies Program and the Department of Political Science, and to Felicia Nadel, Emerson Doiron, and especially Elisabeth Lohmueller for crucial assistance during summer 2016. Working with Susan and Cricket has been a real giftthey are amazing to work with and have taught me so much. Thanks to Toni and to Paris for sharing their mom and to my sisters Beth and Nina for their support.

Susan is grateful to work in Ohio Universitys Department of Political Science, where research and teaching in the area of LGBTQ politics is not just tolerated but valued. It was a real treat to work on this project with Marla and CricketI learned so much from both of them, but equally importantly, I laughed a lot with them both too. Thanks beyond words to Kate Leeman, who understands as always, and to my dear aunt, Cassie Tiogoly, who always did.

Cricket thanks Marla and Susan for the wonderful experience of putting this volume together. She also thanks the colleagues, students, and staff at the gender, womens, and sexuality studies departments at the Ohio State University and the University of Washington for making these schools such fabulous places to grow as a scholar, an activist, and a teacher. Thanks as well to past and present members of la Escuela Popular Nortea for profoundly and radically shaping my understanding of politics, coalition, and resistance. As always, Im deeply grateful to my friends and family for their love, wisdom, laughter, and support.

Thank you to our indexers: Nina Judith Katz and Leonid S. Blickstein.

Introduction

MARLA BRETTSCHNEIDER, SUSAN BURGESS, AND CHRISTINE KEATING

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) activism has gained a good deal of visibility in recent years and has had some significant successes. Worldwide, the number of countries in which same-sex acts are illegal is decreasing. An increasing number prohibit employment discrimination, punish hate crimes, and recognize same-sex marriage and adoption. LGBTQ activism has also led to path-breaking scientific discoveries of life-saving treatments for people with AIDS. In the United States, hate crimes against LGBTQ people may be prosecuted under federal law, and LGBTQ people may serve openly in the military. Barriers to LGBTQ families adopting and fostering children have been lifted in many states. Many states and localities have added sexuality to antidiscrimination laws that protect basic civil rights such as equal housing, public accommodation, and employment. Indeed, this book was conceived as the United States Supreme Court recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry in Obergefell v. Hodges in June 2015. Readers will note the presence of that dramatic political turn of events in many chapters in this volume.

However, this history has been neither linear nor necessarily progressive, including in recent years. The killing of forty-nine people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida in June 2016 dramatically demonstrated that violence against LGBTQ populations persists despite legal and political gains. Also, as this book was about to go to press, Donald J. Trump was elected the forty-fifth president of the United States in 2017. While specific policy development remains open, it is clear that anti-LGBTQ elements worldwide have experienced a tremendous political boost from his election. The struggle for sexual and gender diversity and justice is far from over.