The Politics of Gay Rights in American Communities: Explaining Antidiscrimination Ordinances and Policies

Abstract

Theory: The adoption of local gay rights ordinances and policies is approached from two broad theoretical frameworks-the urbanism/diversity approach and alternative perspectives rooted in social movement theory. Hypotheses: The adoption of gay rights ordinances/policies is a function of: (1) the level of urbanization and social diversity; (2) the social and political resources of the gay and lesbian population; (3) the political opportunity structure in the community; and (4) the balance between traditionalist and liberal religious groups. Method: Multivariate logistic regression analysis is used on a data set comprising 126 cities and counties with gay rights ordinances/policies and 125 localities chosen at random. Results: Consistent with urbanism theory, population size is the single largest factor differentiating the two types of communities. In addition to urbanism, the prospects for including sexual orientation as a protected category are influenced by the extent of political and organizational mobilization among the gay and lesbian community, the political opportunity structure in the locality, and the presence of morallytraditional religious groups. These findings reinforce the value of incorporating cultural themes and social movement theory in the study of policy outcomes.