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Does the idea of equality for sexual minorities have as strong an influence as the media suggest? How often do politicians come out forthrightly in support of gay rights? Drawing on more than three hundred interviews with activists, politicians, officials, legislative aides, and journalists, David ...

Does the idea of equality for sexual minorities have as strong an influence as the media suggest? How often do politicians come out forthrightly in support of gay rights? Drawing on more than three hundred interviews with activists, politicians, officials, legislative aides, and journalists, David Rayside shows that gays, lesbians, and their political issues are still on the fringe of the political mainstream. His landmark study of political access demonstrates that, despite the overall tempering of anti-gay rhetoric in the 1990s, opponents of equality are formidable, and standing up for sexual minorities is still widely thought to be politically risky.

Rayside documents a high-profile controversy in each of three countries: gays and lesbians in the military in the United States, sexual orientation and human rights legislation in Canada, and the age-of-consent battle in the United Kingdom. In addition, in-depth interviews of openly gay elected officials from three countries -- U.S. Congressman Barney Frank, Canadian Member of Parliament Svend Robinson, and British M.P. Chris Smith -- provide an inside look at the political process: the negotiation of gay and lesbian policy issues on a daily basis, the attitudes of colleagues in various political parties, and the tensions created when grassroots and mainstream activism intersect with each other. The only major book to look at gay and lesbian politics in three culturally similar but politically disparate countries, On the Fringe explores the political workings and impact of a modern social movement

In April 1987 Joseph C. Steffan, one of the ten highest ranking midshipmen in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy, and only six weeks from graduation, was denied his diploma and forced to resign his commission because he answered "Yes, sir" to the question, "I'd like your word, are you a ...

In April 1987 Joseph C. Steffan, one of the ten highest ranking midshipmen in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy, and only six weeks from graduation, was denied his diploma and forced to resign his commission because he answered "Yes, sir" to the question, "I'd like your word, are you a homosexual?" Six years later his cause, and that of other gay men and lesbians seeking to serve their country by enlistment in the military, has become the subject of intense national controversy. This unusual and innovative work, based on the litigation strategy and court papers filed in the case of Joseph C. Steffan v. Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defense, et al., brings the resources of clinical psychiatry, clinical and social psychology, cultural history and political science to bear upon the fundamental questions at issue: How is sexual orientation determined? How and why have socially prejudiced stereotypes about male and female homosexuals developed? Why have gays faced special obstacles in defending themselves against discrimination? How much political power do gays have?Marc Wolinsky and Kenneth Sherrill argue that gays constitute a politically powerless class that has been unjustly deprived of its constitutional right to equal protection under the law. They have collected here the affidavits filed on behalf of Joseph Steffan in his suit against the United States government, together with the counter-arguments of the Department of Defense and the extraordinary opinion of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Whatever the outcome of the case, presently on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, this book will stand as a lasting and indispensable guide to the sources of sexual discrimination.

This book is about the women who serve the military as wives and those who serve as soldiers, sailors, and flyers. Comparing wives and warriors in the U.S. and Canada, it examines how the military in both countries constructs gender to exclude women from being respected as equals to men. Written by ...

This book is about the women who serve the military as wives and those who serve as soldiers, sailors, and flyers. Comparing wives and warriors in the U.S. and Canada, it examines how the military in both countries constructs gender to exclude women from being respected as equals to men. Written by a wide range of scholars and military personnel, the book covers such contemporary issues as the opening of military academies to women, the opening of combat posts to women, the experience of being a wife in the two-person career of an officer-husband, sexual harassment, turnover of women in the armed services, and U.S. and Canadian policies allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military. Part of an emerging feminist scholarship in military studies, this work also explores how gender has been constructed to maintain the status quo and women's narrowly defined roles as the dependent helpmates of men.