Political Participation Predictors of Homosexuals in the Gay/Lesbian Rights Movement Lisa K
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1992 Political participation predictors of homosexuals in the gay/lesbian rights movement Lisa K. Waldner-Haugrud Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Political Science Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation Waldner-Haugrud, Lisa K., "Political participation predictors of homosexuals in the gay/lesbian rights movement " (1992). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 10357. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/10357 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MICROFIUklED 1992 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 0284860 Political participation predictors of homosexuals in the gay/lesbian rights movement Waldner-Haugrud, Lisa Kay, Ph.D. Iowa State University, 1992 Copyright ©1002 by Waldner-Haugrud, Lisa Kay. All rights reserved. UMI 300N.ZeebRd. Ann Aibor, MI 48106 Political participation predictors of homosexuals in the gay/lesbian rights movement by Lisa K. Waldner-Haugrud A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Sociology Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. In Charge o^Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Major Department Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Graduate College Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1992 Copyright © Lisa K. Waldner-Haugrud, 1992. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2. HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT 5 Ideology and Goals S Strategies of the Gay Rights Movement 7 History of the Gay/Lesbian Rights Movement 11 The American Gay Rights Movements IS New Right Response 16 CHAPTER 3. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES 21 Social Movement Theoretical Frameworks 22 Resource mobilization 26 Summarization of the political process model 30 CHAPTER 4. MODEL AND LITERATURE REVIEW 41 Political Process Model 41 Application to gay/lesbian liberation 42 Organization/Community Strength 46 Contact with lesbian/gay organization 47 Identity development 47 Media exposure 47 Level of Insurgency 48 Collective Attributions 48 Social Control 49 Model of Political Participation within the Gay/Lesbian Liberation Movement 51 Literature Review 51 AIDS salience 53 Homophobia 53 Gay/lesbian identity 63 Media exposure 67 Organizational contact 69 Collective Attributions 70 Perceptions of unjustness i 70 Political efficacy 71 CHAPTER 5. METHODS AND FACTOR ANALYSIS 74 Methodology 74 Descriptive Statistics 78 Operationalization of Variables and Factor Analysis Results 83 AIDS salience 85 Homophobia and discrimination 86 Organization and community strength 89 Identity/being "out" 89 Media exposure 90 Gay/lesbian organizational contacts 92 Collective attributions 95 Perceptions of unjustness 95 Internal political efficacy 99 External political efficacy 101 Political participation 104 Summary of Factor Analysis Results 106 Descriptive Statistics 109 Problems with skewness 113 Correlation results 115 Multicollinearity 122 CHAPTER 6: RESULTS OF REGRESSION AND PATH ANALYSIS 125 Preliminary Path Analysis 127 Complete Model Results (without controls) 129 Perceptions of unjustness . 129 Internal political efficacy 130 External political efficacy ; 133 Perceptions of government response to AIDS 135 Political participation 139 Path Analysis with Controls 143 Perceptions of unjustness 143 Internal political efficacy 145 Perceptions of government responsiveness to AIDS 148 Having a say in government 149 Political participation 151 Path Analysis: Reduced Models 155 Perceptions of unjustness 155 Internal political efficacy 156 External political efficacy: Perceptions of government responsiveness to AIDS 160 External political efficacy: Having a say in government 161 Political participation 164 Alternative Reduced Model 179 CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION 190 Cognitive Liberation/Collective Attributions 190 Perceptions of unjustness 191 iv Internal political efficacy 196 External political efficacy 200 Government responsiveness to AIDS 200 Having a say in government 205 Political Participation 209 Alternative Reduced Model 214 CHAPTER 8. POLICY IMPLICATIONS 221 Salience of Policy Changes for Gays and Lesbians 221 Defining Public Policy 224 Policy Goals of the Gay/Lesbian Liberation Movement 224 Identifying Policy Outcomes and Potential Impacts 224 Strategies for Change 229 Ineffective strategies 229 Potential strategies 231 CHAPTER 9: SUMMARY 238 REFERENCES 244 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 256 APPENDIX: COVER LETTER ATTACHED TO ALL SURVEYS EXPLAINING THE RESEARCH PROJECT FOR INFORMED CONSENT 257 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION On June 27 and 28th, 1969, a gay bar in Greenwich Village called Stonewall was raided by the New York police. The difference between the raid on Stonewall and other police raids was the reaction of the bar patrons. As one author describes the event, "drag queens, dykes, street people, and bar boys confronted the police first with jeers ... and then with a hail of coins, paving stones, and parking meters" (Adam, 1987:75). Stonewall was not the first example of homosexual political protest. A police campaign against Los Angeles gay bars in 1967 had sparked a rally of several hundred on Sunset Boulevard (D'Emilio, 1983). Yet, the Stonewall riots are often perceived as the trigger initiating the gay/lesbian liberation movement just as Rosa Parks' refusal to yield her bus seat is credited with igniting the black civil rights movement. Social movement research demonstrates that isolated events are important, but only one factor contributing to movement emergence. In addition, there are the potential participants who are affected by a set of structural conditions, but not all will engage in social movement activities. Depending upon which theoretical perspectives is chosen, other important factors such as resources, elite support, emotional state of the participants, and the political environment all create conditions conducive or nonconducive to movement emergence. The social movement research lacks an analytical study of the gay/lesbian rights movement. The focus of this research is to discover why some members of the aggrieved gay/lesbian population participate within the gay/lesbian liberation movement while others 2 are politically inactive. An additional concern is the identiAcation of environmental factors important to movement success. Throughout this analysis lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, will be referred to as gays and lesbians. The majority of books and articles on the subject provide historical assessments. While historical facts are necessary to situate movements, aiding in the analytical process, such research does not ask fundamental questions that could explain movement participation. Explaining participation is important since politically inactive gays and lesbians are considered the movement's most valuable potential resource (Schur, 1980). Mobilizing this group is a top priority for gay/lesbian activists (Bullert, 1987). The theoretical perspective chosen for this research is an adaptation of McAdam's political process model (1982) which he applied to black insurgency. This model uses a macro perspective while still retaining important micro concepts. While the data set used did not contain the information allowing a more macro-historical analysis, many of McAdam's concepts were borrowed and used at the micro-level. Many of the major findings are congruent with the political sociology and social psychological research. For example, this research found that media exposure, organizational contact, group identification, homophobia, discrimination, and political efficacy were important concepts to consider in an analysis