Creating Change : Public Policy, Civil Rights and Sexuality

by D'Emilio, John; Turner, William B.; Vaid, Urvashi

• ISBN13: 9780312243753
• ISBN10: 0312243758
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-10-19
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

Creating Change tells the story behind some of the most bitterly contested and controversial public events and public policy battles in the past generation and possibly in American history.In the thirty years since the Stonewall Inn riots marked the beginning of the modern gay and lesbian movement, there has been a dramatic change in the texture of gay and lesbian life and in its relationship to American society.Despite an apparently deepening conservative hold upon national and state politics, this shift has been as extensive - over a comparable period of time - as that witnessed in race and gender relations.Creating Change traces the work and gauges the impact of the gay and lesbian movement since Stonewall.It explores a critically significant, though often ignored, area in which change has occurred - the world of public policy making, especially at the level of the federal government - and scrutinizes the who, how, why, and what of it.A work of scholarship and a work of passion, it recounts how a specific constituency - gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans - were able to make tremendous progress despite seemingly insurmountable barriers.Creating Change is the story of the way in which the American political and cultural landscape became what it is today and how social change is brought about.

Author Biography

John D'Emilio is a Guggenheim fellow, professor of history at the University of North Carolina, and author of numerous books including the classic Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities.

William B. Turner is a visiting assistant professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University.

Urvashi Vaid is the Director of the Policy Institute (and former Executive Director) of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She is the author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
I. Views of the Top
Mirror Images: Lesbian/Gay Civil Rights in the Carter and Reagan Administrations	3	(26)
William B. Turner
Beating Around Bush: Gay Rights and America's 41st President	29	(14)
Joe Rollins
A ``Friend'' in the White House? Reflections on the Clinton Presidency	43	(14)
Craig A. Rimmerman
From Bowers v. Hardwick to Romer v. Evans: Lesbian and Gay Rights in the U.S. Supreme Court	57	(24)
Arthur S. Leonard
II. Accessing Institutions
From Agitator to Insider: Fighting for Inclusion in the Democratic Party	81	(34)
Jean O'Leary
Caught Between Worlds: Gay Republicans Step Out, and into the Political Fray	115	(16)
Richard Tafel
A Wheel Within a Wheel: Sexual Orientation and the Federal Workforce	131	(18)
Leonard P. Hirsch
III. Gay Agendas
The Federal Gay Rights Bill: From Bella to ENDA	149	(39)
Chai R. Feldblum
Government v. Gays: Two Sad Stories with Two Happy Endings, Civil Service Employment and Security Clearances	188	(20)
Franklin E. Kameny
American Immigration Law: A Case Study in the Effective Use of the Political Process	208	(28)
Barney Frank
Getting It Straight: A Review of the ``Gays in the Military'' Debate	236	(15)
Tim McFeeley
Bridging Race, Class, and Sexuality for School Reform	251	(10)
N'Tanya Lee
Don Murphy
Lisa North
Juliet Ucelli
The Emergence of a Gay and Lesbian Antiviolence Movement	261	(20)
David M. Wertheimer
IV. Family Values
Couples: Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership	281	(24)
David L. Chambers
Raising Children: Lesbian and Gay Parents Face the Public and the Courts	305	(31)
Nancy D. Polikoff
Family Values: From the White House Conference on Families to the Family Protection Act	336	(25)
Thomas J. Burrows
V. The Politics of Health
Advocating for Lesbian Health in the Clinton Years	361	(21)
Marj Plumb
Contested Membership: Black Gay Identities and the Politics of AIDS	382	(25)
Cathy J. Cohen
The Ryan White CARE Act: An Impressive, Dubious Accomplishment	407	(16)
John-Manuel Andriote
VI. Building Movement
Lesbians Travel the Roads of Feminism Globally	423	(15)
Charlotte Bunch
Claudia Hinojosa
Three Marches, Many Lessons	438	(13)
Nadine Smith
Facing Discrimination, Organizing for Freedom: The Transgender Community	451	(18)
Phyllis Randolph Frye
Organizational Tales: Interpreting the NGLTF Story	469	(18)
John D'Emilio
Notes	487	(34)
Notes on Contributors	521