How the Religious Right Shaped Lesbian and Gay Activism (review)

During the most recent election four states voted on gay rights initiatives. Religious Right organizations figured prominently in these struggles, and as Tina Fetner's How the Religious Right Shaped Lesbian and Gay Activism shows, this pattern is not new. Since the 1970s, the Religious Right has posed as a Goliath to the lesbian and gay movement's David. With its superior numbers, funding and member networks, the Religious Right has been a constant threat to the goals of the lesbian and gay movement. Fetner situates her work within the literature of opposing movements, showing how movement actors on each side have made decisions in relation to the other. The focus though, is mainly one way, from Goliath to David and not vice versa. Despite popular rhetoric, it is clear from this work that the felt threat is one-sided, as the Religious Right concentrates on its goals rather than responding to challenges posed by the lesbian and gay movement.

Fetner organizes her book chronologically, tracing the reciprocal development of the lesbian and gay movement and the Religious Right from the 1960s through today. Analyzing documents, historical reports and interviews with movement actors, she paints a picture in which the Religious Right dragged the lesbian and gay movement along in nearly every aspect of its activities: organizational structure, message framing, issue selection and party politics. Fetner marks the start of the engagement of the two movements with Anita Bryant's campaigns of the 1970s. Using Christian rhetoric and mobilizing church networks, Bryant staged campaigns across the country to pass anti-gay legislation or overturn existing protections to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered citizens. As Fetner shows, lesbian and gay organizations responded to these moves by mobilizing against these campaigns.

"The lesbian and gay movement in New York City could have been intimidated by the anti-gay efforts or ignored them altogether. Rather than choose either of these reactions, a number of social movement organizations decided that Bryant's activism presented an opportunity to make significant advances in lesbian and gay rights and stepped up their activism significantly..."

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Future engagement between the two movements followed much the same form. The Religious Right nationalized, and so, too, the lesbian and gay movement. The Religious Right entered party politics, and so did the lesbian and gay movement. The Religious Right promoted popular-vote initiatives, and the lesbian and gay movement also entered the fray. Indeed, as Fetner convincingly shows, current struggles over same-sex marriage and relationship recognition were sparked not by landmark court cases brought by lesbian and gay couples, but by a spate of laws and constitutional amendments promoted by the Religious Right.

Fetner is at her strongest when discussing the social movement/ organizational effects of the Religious Right on the lesbian and gay movement. She shows how each innovation of the Religious Right, both internal to their organizations and external in the form of initiatives and campaigns, was countered by a similar move from groups within the lesbian and gay movement. This latter movement has spent much of its history responding to the Religious Right rather than pursuing its own goals. Through this analysis we see the powerful effect of an opposing movement; it effectively changes the entire playing field.

However, Fetner goes beyond this tight analysis and attempts to demonstrate the Religious Right's control of the gay rights issue as a whole. While it is true that the Religious Right has had the upper hand in resources and mobilization, the lesbian and gay movement has prevailed in the majority of court challenges and seems to be winning in the court of public opinion. Data show that tolerance for homosexuality has increased at a rate greater than that attributable solely to demographic factors. In other words, lesbians, gays and their supporters are convincing the American public (slowly but surely). Fetner also tries to show changes in the realm of framing and emotions, but she lacks...