Jason Pierceson - Sexual Minorities and Politics: An Introduction

Sexual Minorities and Politics

Sexual Minorities and Politics

An Introduction

Jason Pierceson

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pierceson, Jason, 1972

Sexual minorities and politics : an introduction / Jason Pierceson.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4422-2768-2 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4422-2769-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4422-2770-5 (electronic) 1. Gay rights movementUnited StatesHistory. 2. Gay liberation movementUnited StatesHistory. 3. Sexual minoritiesPolitical activityUnited StatesHistory. 4. Gay rights movementHistory. 5. Gay liberation movementHistory. 6. Sexual minoritiesPolitical activityHistory. I. Title.

HQ76.8.U5P54 2015

323.3'2640973dc23 2015025498

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

For Dylan

Contents

What does politics look like for, until very recently, a thoroughly despised, and relatively small, minority? How do they begin to create political power and engage with political and legal systems with the goals of social transformation and policy change, particularly in the face of strong resistance in government and in society? These are the central questions of this book. The book explores the history of the LGBT rights movement, chronicles the building of political and legal movements and how political actors and institutions have dealt with the movement, examines philosophical debates within and about the movement, and assesses the current state of the politics and policies relating to sexual minorities. The book synthesizes scholarly work of political scientists, political theorists, and historians in an attempt to describe the politics of sexual and gender minorities in an accessible and useful manner, especially for students and interested citizens. The book is organized around significant subfields of political science: political history and development, political theory, American politics (public opinion, voting, and elections), comparative politics, public policy, and public law, or the study of courts and politics. Along with a distinct treatment of transgender politics, each approach is used to gain a fuller understanding of historical and contemporary politics of sexual and gender minorities.

While the book is mostly about the movement in the United States, attention is paid to global developments and issues. The book also examines the LGBT rights movement in comparison to other similar rights movements, such as the movements for racial equality and the womens movement. Part of the goal is to highlight the distinct features of the LGBT rights movement and its similarities to other movements. For instance, the LGBT rights movement developed later than other movements, and without some of the supporting elements of these movements, but it also adopted many of the techniques and approaches of other movements, such as grassroots mobilization, electoral strategies, and litigation. For instance, while religion and religious institutions were crucial to the advances of the African American civil rights movement (Indeed, the leader of the twentieth-century movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a Baptist minister.), religion, especially the way that mainstream religion has historically treated nonheterosexuality, has mostly been a constraining force on the political and legal advancement of sexual minorities. While religion was a similar constraint for the womens movement, the sheer number of women in society helped to propel that movement, while the much smaller number of sexual minorities has constrained the movement. In a democracy, numbers matter.

The political landscape for sexual minorities has been shaped significantly in the past several decades by the rise of the Religious Right as a potent force in U.S. politics. Particularly compared to democracies in Canada and Western Europe, religious conservatives impart significant, and disproportionate, clout on the system, particularly through a strong alignment with the Republican Party and committed activists. While estimates place this group between 20 and 30 percent of the U.S. population, their influence has been significant, although it may be waning. While the mixing of religion and politics is nothing new, this particular relationship dates to the 1970s. This movement seeks to impart a particular, and often very selective, literal Christian Biblical interpretation on sexuality and gender roles. Indeed the movement emerged partially in opposition to the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, in particular in opposition to reproductive rights and the failed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). It also set its sights on the parallel lesbian and gay liberation/rights movement as sexual minorities made more claims in the political arena in the 1970s. While many religious denominations support rights for sexual minorities out of theological perspectives and interpretations that do not condemn but embrace LGBT individuals, the conservative religious mobilization has, to date, outweighed the more progressive religious movement.

More broadly, opposition to rights and equality for sexual and gender minorities reflects what political philosopher Martha Nussbaum calls the politics of disgust. This politics is grounded in repulsion to some aspect of the human body, according to Nussbaum, and it has historically been targeted at racial minorities, women, and Jews. In contemporary politics, it is primarily directed at sexual and gender minorities. Its purpose is to degrade the object of repulsion, or, as she states, it is a fundamental refusal of another persons humanity.

Another unique aspect of politics of sexual minorities is the fact that sexual minority communities form in ways different from other marginalized groups. For sexual minorities, there is generally not the same level of early socialization and community identity formation. As political scientist Ken Sherrill has noted, In the United States, as in most of the world, lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals are outnumbered and despised. Unlike most other potentially political groups, gay people are further disempowered by virtue of being born as if into a diasporaprobably randomly distributed about the population at birth. Most LGBT individuals are raised in heterosexual families, and as Sherrill also notes, sexual minorities are unique by virtue of going through childhood socialization experience designed to make them the opposite of what they are.

In Focus: Coming Out

Creating identity for sexual and gender minorities often involves the coming out process, where individuals are said to come out of the closet. In the closet, individuals hide their true identity by passing as straight, cisgender, or not intersex. This often involves a lot of deception and physical and emotional stress, but it is seen as necessary out of the fear of rejection of family, friends, and colleagues, even violence. Life in the closet can be deeply alienating and isolating, with little support from family and friends. There is not the same socialization into identity issues and pride in identity as with other marginalized groups, such as racial and ethnic minorities. The decision to come out can be a long and complicated one, as individuals weigh the costs and benefits of doing so. Activist Harvey Milk defined coming out as a political act, as it forces others to think about LGBT people and their plight, especially in the context of a personal connection. According to some estimates, up to half of the LGBT community is still closeted, thus limiting the full potential of the movement. Even as the culture has become more welcoming for gender and sexual minorities, the possibility of rejection and violence remains real.