Everyday Activism

A Handbook for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People and their Allies

Michael R. Stevenson, Jeanine C. Cogan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781317958222
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: LGBT Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

From same-sex marriages to hate-crime laws, gay, lesbian and bisexual people have fought an uphill battle to gain equal rights. Now a comprehensive new reference collects in one volume the strategies, hard data, and legal arguments that are central to the fight for equality in lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) life.
Up-to-date and readable, Everyday Activism is the one essential book that provides the basic facts on the key questions faced by LGB citizens.

Part I
gearing up to make a difference

Chapter 1
influencing public policy¹

Jeanine C. Cogan

In this chapter, you will

• Learn the importance of public policy in everyday life.
• Learn who makes public policy decisions.
• Find out how to influence policy on existing issues.
• Learn how to influence policy by creating support for an invisible issue.
• Learn to write informed letters to your senator, representative, governor, mayor, or anyone else!

During my second week in Washington, D.C., starting my new policy career, I witnessed a political circus that resulted in a huge blow to the lesbian, gay, and bisexual civil rights movement. A bill that would for the first time in U.S. history federally define a marriage as a union between a man and a woman was being passionately debated and came to a vote on the Senate floor. According to the language in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife.” DOMA was approved by the House on July 13, passed by the Senate on September 10, and signed into law by President Clinton on September 21, 1996.

This legislation was designed to preempt a pending court ruling in Hawaii that could have recognized same-sex marriages.² Passing this law meant that a marriage between two lesbians or two gay men in Hawaii (if the court ruled in that direction) could not be considered a legal union as defined by the federal government. DOMA is a striking exception to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which requires that court judgments of one state be recognized in all other states.³

After passing DOMA, the Senate then voted on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would prevent employers from using an individual’s sexual orientation as the basis for adverse or different treatment in employment.⁴ One vote—50 against, 49 in favor—defeated this bill, championed by Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).⁵

The fate of both bills depended partly on the common rhetoric used by foes of the LGB community. The arguments used to successfully promote the antigay bill and to defeat the gay-positive bill were based on misinformation and flawed assumptions about LGBs. For example, opponents have argued, “ENDA would require schools to hire gay teachers who have a deleterious impact on children.” Yet as you will see in Part III of this book, research does not support the assumption that gay adults are a threat to children. A central role of LGB advocates is to challenge directly such myths and misperceptions. Only then will these fictions start to unravel and cease to serve as an impetus for misguided policies.

the importance of LGBs’ involvement in policy

Not only did the passage of DOMA and the defeat of ENDA reflect an inaccurate depiction of LGB lives, it likely reinforced existing negative attitudes toward LGBs.⁶ As with anti-Semitism and racism, heterosexist attitudes are influenced by societal norms and values. Societal institutions, such as the government, communicate particular values and attitudes to their members. In addition to the specific impact of laws on individuals, statutes also serve a symbolic function by codifying the values of the society. Thus, laws that ignore or punish specific forms of sexual expression convey social disapproval of those behaviors to all citizens. In turn, laws reinforce hostility against the people who practice such behaviors—in this case lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.

Clearly, DOMA is only one example of the hundreds of laws and policies that affect the daily lives of LGBs. Government policies have immediate and direct consequences for the political and economic power, opportunities, and quality of life of lesbians, gay men, and bisexual. LGBs can facilitate social change through promoting public policies that directly challenge the roots of disempowerment and negative social conditions. Additionally, LGBs’ involvement in policy development is crucial to correcting the inaccurate assumptions that many policy makers hold.

Yet federal and state politics are commonly portrayed as open only to a few select stakeholders, as too complex to maneuver, and/or as too big for an individual to have an impact on. One goal of this book is to correct these misperceptions with information on and tools for how to successfully influence policy. This chapter reflects my experience as a policy advocate at the federal level. However, the basic principles and strategies described here can be applied to other levels of government and policy development. This chapter considers three topics: the players in policy development, the lifestyle of policy makers, and how you too can influence policy.

the players in federal policy development

There are at least five central groups or stakeholders involved in influencing the legislative process: constituents, organizations or interest groups, coalitions, members of Congress, and congressional staffers. The role that each plays in the federal policy-making process is briefly described below.

Constituents

Anyone eligible to vote is a constituent. This probably includes you and many of the people you care about. As such, your primary mechanism for influencing the federal legislative process is through your members of Congress: senators and representatives. According to the American Psychological Association,⁷ some members of Congress view their constituents as having the most influence on their voting decisions—more than lobbying groups, their colleagues, and party pressures. Because the people in their districts vote members of Congress into office, members are motivated to attend to constituent concerns. Indeed, constituent service is one of the most important aspects of congressional life.⁸

Constituents articulate their views and concerns to members through visits, letters, e-mail, and/or phone calls. In addition, grassroots activism, such as rallies and protests, is effective in mobilizing constituents within a community and to focus members’ attention on specific issues. Constituents may also be a member of or become involved in organizations that work to influence policy.

Advocacy Organizations

There are numerous types of organizations and interest groups that advocate for specific policies. They cover a range of issues, including business and industry, science and technology, professional interests, labor, civil rights, public interest, and governmental interests.⁹ Organizations often have a person or office responsible for advocating on behalf of their members’ interests and concerns. Advocating on behalf of a large number of people across the nation can offer more political weight to a message than simply advocating on behalf of one’s own interests as a constituent.¹⁰

Congressional staff often work closely with advocacy groups.¹¹ In order to move a bill forward, staffers may work with advocacy groups to identify members in key congressional districts who need to be contacted directly by their local constituents. Such grassroots support for a bill may help it gain active congressional consideration and increase its priority as an issue on the legislative agenda.

Box 1.3 in the Introduction lists the largest national organizations involved in promoting gay positive policies. A more extensive list appears in the Appendix. To be able to exert more significant influence, advocacy groups may coordinate efforts and work together through coalitions.

Coalitions

Coalitions typically are composed of clusters of advocacy organizations that share common interests or political positions with the aim of developing strength in numbers in order to influence policy. The coalition is designed to bring diverse organizations together to lobby on national policies, promote grassroots activism, and educate the public.¹² Members of a coalition may establish personal relationships with staff and members of Congress, which can contribute to the success of a bill or other policy initiative. Coalitions vary significantly in their membership, structure, and missions. Their constituencies and agendas may shift and adapt according to the changing policy environment and legislative focus. Membership within a coalition is typically on a group, rather than individual, basis. Coalition activities include regular meetings, federal and local outreach efforts, the sharing of knowledge and resources, and strategizing about how to optimize their influence. Working in coalitions maximizes the likelihood of successfully influencing the legislative process by allowing a large number of people to express their opinion on an issue in a short period of time.

Members of Congress

Certainly, a legislator’s colleagues, the other policy makers, are another important influence. Numerous factors contribute to the decisions legislators make.¹³ Three primary considerations are key in members’ political decisions: (1) to satisfy constituents, (2) to enhance their personal reputations within the political world, and (3) to create good policy. All three can be accomplished when members have the skill to successfully work with and influence one another.¹⁴ Members influence each other through direct one-on-one interaction, legislation, briefings, hearings, speeches, and the press. The well-known “Dear Colleague” letter on Capitol Hill, in which members explain legislation to their colleagues and urge them either to become co-sponsors or to vote along similar lines, is a primary strategy for influencing other members.

Members also influence each other through party affiliation and loyalty. Party politics plays a significant role in members’ policy decisions.¹⁵ Party leadership may urge members to vote in a certain way on specific legislation. Partisan politics are most apparent in party “whipping.” Whipping occurs when party leadership strongly encourages members to vote in a particular way with the implied assumption that doing so will result in rewards. For voting along party lines, members can be rewarded with positions on more powerful committees, among other things that give them more power and clout with colleagues. This influence with colleagues may translate into a greater likelihood of successfully addressing constituent concerns, thereby improving reelection possibilities.

Congressional Staff

Until the 1950s, the U.S. Congress was a part-time institution that worked for 9 of the 24 months of a congressional session. The congressional workload has doubled in the last 30 years.¹⁶ Currently, members work 18 months per session. The increased workload resulted from a series of decisions that enlarged congressional staff assistance, beginning in 1946 with the Legislative Reorganization Act.¹⁷ For example, in 1967 members of the House of Representatives employed 4,000 people as personal staff. By 1990 that number had doubled. Interestingly, some scholars have argued that the increase of staff has resulted in expanded staff autonomy. With larger staffs, members are able to take on more issues and expand their workload. In turn, members need to rely more on and increasingly delegate independent authority to their staff.

Consequently, staff play a critical role in determining policy. Members rely on staff to track specific issues, write speeches, educate them on a range of topics, advise them on legislation and policy decisions, and write legislation. The autonomy and influence of a staffer depends on a range of factors including their individual personalities, the structure of the office, and the members’ style.¹⁸

the lifestyle of a policy maker

“To best understand the way in which federal policy is formulated, it helps to think of Capitol Hill as a community, or culture, with its own inhabitants, rules, norms, and social processes.”¹⁹ Only by understanding the culture of politicians can scientists, lobbyists, activists, or anyone else hope to influence the federal process and shape public policy.²⁰ Four central characteristics of congressional offices...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction Getting Involved
• PART I GEARING UP TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
• PART II ENDING DISCRIMINATION
• PART III CREATING EQUALITY
• Appendix Web Resources
• Notes
• Biographical Notes
• Index