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  • Same Sex, Different Politics: Success and Failure in the Struggles Over Gay Rights
  • Steven A. Boutcher
Same Sex, Different Politics: Success and Failure in the Struggles Over Gay Rights By Gary Mucciaroni The University of Chicago Press. 2008. 392 pages. $60 cloth, $24 paper.

Why has the American gay rights movement achieved success on some public policy issues but not others? In Same Sex, Different Politics, Gary Mucciaroni provides a nuanced framework that incorporates both public opinion and the structure of political institutions as key mediating mechanisms in his analysis of six different LGBT policy issues: marriage and partnership benefits, adoption, sodomy repeal, military service, hate crime laws and civil rights (employment discrimination). Mucciaroni argues that each policy issue contains a different set of politics and is “marked by a distinct struggle and by political and institutional differences that are critical for determining success.” For example, the institutional forces surrounding the struggle to repeal “don’t ask don’t tell” are very different than the politics that surround the passage of hate crime laws. This comparative insight, while seemingly simple, provides a framework that proves to be crucial for understanding why gay rights advocates are successful on certain issues but not others.

Two components are at the center of Mucciaroni’s analysis: the extent to which the general public finds an issue threatening and the structure of political institutions surrounding each policy issue. Treating each component separately doesn’t adequately explain why some issues are more successful. For example, sodomy repeal (legalization of homosexual conduct), marriage equality and adoption are the gay rights issues most threatening to the general public, but they have reached very different outcomes. All state sodomy laws have been repealed, adoption is allowed in an increasing number of local and state jurisdictions, and marriage equality has yet to have widespread success. Thus, public threat alone does not provide the full answer, but is mediated by political institutions.

Mucciaroni argues that three institutional variables matter for LGBT policy success: decentralized policymaking, third party stakeholders and judicial involvement. Various combinations of each of these variables have led to different outcomes across policy issues. Whereas the civil rights movement has historically been successful at the federal level, the LGBT movement has faced a very different, and largely antagonistic, federal government. The closure of national political opportunities resulted in a decentralized strategy targeting state and local municipalities – a strategy that has proved relatively successful because federalism provides multiple points of access for activists to target (Meyer 2007). For example, although adoption rights is one of the most threatening policy agendas pursued by the movement, a decentralized strategy has resulted in 10 states passing statewide laws and another 15 states where some local jurisdictions allow adoption rights. [End Page 1503] Currently, an estimated 63 percent of the gay and lesbian population live in jurisdictions that allow second-parent adoptions.

Decentralized policymaking, however, is not entirely sufficient to explain success. The presence of third party stakeholders is also important. For example, the success of the gay rights movement in repealing state sodomy laws was assisted by the American Law Institute, a group of legal professionals that pushed for the adoption of the Model Penal Code in state legislatures during the 1950s and 1960s. These professionals were not interested in promoting gay rights but were focused on modernizing state criminal codes and getting rid of laws that were seen as outdated and not enforceable (see Pierceson 2005). Similarly, key stakeholders in the adoption issue included social workers and adoption agencies open to gay and lesbian parents. Conversely, Mucciaroni argues that marriage has been relatively unsuccessful because of the relative lack of stakeholders, although this point can be debated (legal professionals have been very active in advocating for marriage equality).

Finally, issues where the courts have taken a lead appear to be more successful than when the courts take a back seat to state legislatures. In the case of the military, courts have overwhelmingly deferred to the executive and legislative branches – effectively upholding the policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Conversely, the courts central role on the adoption issue has been a key factor for securing adoption rights. However, Mucciaroni...

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