Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Movement Impact on Public Policies

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Through a quantitative, historical investigation of the gay and lesbian movement and its influence on the decriminalization of sodomy, this doctoral dissertation research project examines the conditions under which a social movement can successfully influence public policy or law. Social movements customarily develop in order to change society in some way, yet there is little research on the ability or inability of social movements to generate political change. Drawing from resource mobilization and political process models of social movements and sociological theories of the state, this project will test a theory of movement policy success involving three broad factors: the political context surrounding the movement, movement strength and activism, and cultural opposition to the movement. The U.S. gay and lesbian movement began in 1969 with the Stonewall Rebellion. An important goal of the movement is the removal of state-level sodomy laws. Sodomy laws criminalize specific sexual acts, usually oral and anal sex, between consenting adults and are often used as the justification for denying other rights to homosexuals. Event history analysis will be used to examine, over time and across states, the important of the political context, movement characteristics, and opposition on the decriminalization of these laws, from 1969 to 1997.