Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0001-6376-6132
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2009
Keywords
Political opportunity, LGBTQ+ rights, Same-sex marriage, Public opinion, Proposition 8, Barack Obama
Abstract
The Article examines the impact of social movement activity upon the advancement of GLBT rights. It analyzes the state and local strategy that GLBT social movements utilized to alter the legal status of sexual orientation and sexuality following the Supreme Court's ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick. Successful advocacy before state and local courts, human rights commissions, and legislatures fundamentally shifted public opinion and laws regarding sexual orientation and sexuality between Bowers and the Supreme Court's ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. This altered landscape created the ''political opportunity" for the Lawrence ruling and made the opinion relatively "safe. "
Currently, GLBT rights groups are following a similar strategy with respect to the pursuit of same-sex marriage. This Article evaluates that strategy and considers whether political opportunities for reform in GLBT rights exist on the national stage.
First Page
1523
Publication Title
Connecticut Law Review
Recommended Citation
Darren Lenard Hutchinson, Sexual Politics and Social Change, 41 Conn. L. Rev. 1523 (2009).
Included in
Gender and Sexuality Commons, Law and Politics Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Sexuality and the Law Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons