Celebration and Suppression: the Strategic Uses of Identity by the Lesbian and Gay Movement Author(S): Mary Bernstein Source: the American Journal of Sociology, Vol
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Celebration and Suppression: The Strategic Uses of Identity by the Lesbian and Gay Movement Author(s): Mary Bernstein Source: The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 103, No. 3 (Nov., 1997), pp. 531-565 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2782888 Accessed: 25/10/2010 14:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress. 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The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The American Journal of Sociology. http://www.jstor.org Celebration and Suppression: The Strategic Uses of Identityby the Lesbian and Gay Movementi Mary Bernstein ArizonaState University Criticsof identitypolitics decry the celebrationof differencewithin identitymovements, yet many activists underscore their similarities to, ratherthan differencesfrom, the majority.This articledevelops the idea of "identitydeployment" as a formof strategiccollective action.Thus one can ask underwhat politicalconditions are identi- ties that celebrateor suppressdifferences deployed strategically. A comparisonof strategiesused in fourlesbian and gay rightscam- paigns shows thatinteractions between social movementorganiza- tions,state actors, and the oppositiondetermine the typesof identi- ties deployed.The authorsuggests the model's applicationto the Civil Rightsand feministmovements. [Theorganizers of the 1993 lesbian and gay march on Washing- ton]face a dilemma:how to put forwarda set of unsettling demandsfor unconventional people in ways that will not make enemiesof potentialallies. They do so by playingdown their differencesbefore the media and the countrywhile celebrating it in private.(Tarrow 1994,p. 10) Sidney Tarrow's portrayal of the 1993 lesbian and gay march on Wash- ington highlightsa central irony about identitypolitics and the decline of the Left: Critics of identity politics decry the celebration of difference 'I thank Edwin Amenta, Ellen Benoit, Nancy Cauthen, Kelly Moore, Gilda Zwer- man, Yvonne Zylan, and the members of the New York UniversityPolitics, Power, and Protest Workshop for comments on earlier drafts of this paper, as well as the AJS reviewers forhelpful suggestions.I greatlybenefited from both discussions with and comments fromDavid Greenberg and Francesca Polletta. I would also like to thank Elizabeth Franqui for her crucial assistance on this paper. This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Dissertation grant (9623937) and by a New York UniversityJune Frier Esserman DissertationFellowship. Direct correspon- dence to Mary Bernstein, School of Justice Studies, Arizona State University,P.O. Box 870403, Tempe, Arizona 85287-0403. ? 1997 by The Universityof Chicago. All rightsreserved. 0002-9602/98/10303-0001$02.50 AJS Volume 103 Number 3 (November1997): 531-65 531 AmericanJournal of Sociology withincontemporary identity movements, charging them with limiting the potentialfor a "politicsof commonality"between oppressed peoples thatcould have potentialfor radical social change (Gitlin 1995). On the otherhand, the lesbian and gay movementseems largelyto have aban- doned its emphasison differencefrom the straightmajority in favorof a moderatepolitics that highlightssimilarities to the straightmajority (Seidman 1993). Over time,"identity" movements shift their emphasis between celebrat- ing and suppressingdifferences from the majority. For example,the Civil Rights movementunderscored similarities to the majorityin order to achieve concretepolicy reforms. At othertimes, movements that assert radical racial identitiesto build communitiesand challengehegemonic Americanculture take centerstage. The Americanfeminist movement has alternatelyemphasized innate genderdifferences between men and women and denied that such differencesexist or that theyare socially relevant.Under what politicalconditions do activistscelebrate or sup- pressdifferences from the majority?Why does the stresson differenceor similaritychange over time? To answerthese questions, this article draws on evidencefrom several campaignsfor lesbian and gay rightsordinances.2 The lesbian and gay movementwas chosenbecause it is consideredthe quintessential identity movement(Melucci 1989; Duyvendak 1995; Duyvendak and Giugni 1995).The culturalbarriers to acceptanceof homosexuality and thechal- lengeof self-acceptance for lesbians and gaymen require cultural struggle. However,the lesbian and gay movementhas been alteredfrom a move- ment for culturaltransformation through sexual liberationto one that seeks achievementof politicalrights through a narrow,ethnic-like (Seid- man 1993) interest-grouppolitics. This well-documentedtransition (Alt- man 1982; Paul 1982; Escoffier1985; Epstein 1987; Seidman 1993; Gam- son 1995; Vaid 1995) has yet to be explained. This researchwill show that celebrationor suppressionof differences withinpolitical campaigns depends on the structureof social movement organizations,access to thepolity (Tilly 1978),and thetype of opposition. By specifyingthe politicalconditions that explain variationin strategies withinmovements, one can betterunderstand differences in formsof col- lectiveaction across movements. 2 Human rightsordinances typically provide protection from discrimination in hous- ing,employment, and publicaccommodations on thebasis of characteristicssuch as sex,race, and nationalorigin; "lesbian and gayrights bills" typically add "sexualorien- tation"to thislist of protectedcategories. 532 Celebrationand Suppression IDENTITY AND MOVEMENT TYPES Attemptsto classifysocial movementshave typicallycentered around the distinctionbetween "strategy-oriented"and "identity-oriented"move- ments(Touraine 1981).Abandoning this distinction, Duyvendak and Gi- ugni argueinstead that "the real differenceis, however,the one between movementspursuing goals in the outsideworld, for which the action is instrumentalfor goal realization,and identity-orientedmovements that realize theirgoals, at least partly,in theiractivities" (1995, pp. 277-78). Social movements,then, are classifiedon "theirlogic of action,"whether theyemploy an identityor instrumentallogic of action,and whetherthey are internallyor externallyoriented. Movements such as the lesbian and gay movementare internallyoriented and followan identitylogic of ac- tion.Instrumental movements, by contrast,engage in instrumentalaction and are externallyoriented (Duyvendak and Giugni 1995,pp. 84-85). This mechanicalbifurcation of movementtypes, reflected in the divi- sion betweenidentity theory on the one hand and resourcemobilization and politicalprocess theory on theother, has leftthe literature on conten- tiouspolitics unable to explainchanges in formsof collective action. First, thecasual use of theterm "identity" obscures fundamental distinctions in meaning(e.g., Gitlin1995). Second,I argue thattheorists must abandon the essentialist characterizationof social movementsas expressiveor in- strumentalbecause it impairsthe studyof all social movements.This es- sentialistcharacterization stems from the conflation of goals and strategies (i.e., thatinstrumental strategies are irrelevantto culturalchange, while expressionsof identity cannot be externallydirected) apparent in resource mobilization,political process, and new social movementtheories. Finally, attemptsto integratethese theories have been unsuccessful. Subsumed underthe rubricof new social movements,"identity move- ments"have been definedas muchby the goals theyseek, and the strate- gies theyuse, as by thefact that they are based on a sharedcharacteristic suchas ethnicityor sex.According to new social movementtheorists, iden- titymovements seek to transformdominant cultural patterns, or gain rec- ognitionfor new social identities,by employingexpressive strategies (Touraine 1981; Cohen 1985; Melucci 1985, 1989). New social movementtheory suggests that movements choose political strategiesin orderto facilitatethe creationof organizationalforms that encourageparticipation and empowerment.Thus strategiesthat privilege thecreation of democratic, nonhierarchical organizations would be chosen over strategiesnarrowly tailored to producepolicy change. For resourcemobilization and politicalprocess theorists, identity may play a role in mobilizationthrough solidary incentives (Klandermans 533 AmericanJournal of Sociology 1984, 1988),but once the "freerider" problem is overcome(Olson 1965; Hardin 1982),all othercollective action is deemedinstrumental, targeted solelyat achievingconcrete (i.e., measurable) goals. Resource