Gay Politics, Urban Politics (Paperback)

~ Robert C. Bailey (Author) "Despite the important legal and legislative changes made at the national and state levels, the lesbian and gay rights movement has made its most dramatic..." (more)
Key Phrases: San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Since the late 1960s the burgeoning gay rights movement has begun to have a profound effect on the politics of many American cities. More than 135 cities and counties have passed local ordinances that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and openly gay city council members and other public officials have been elected in urban areas from Melbourne, Iowa, to Dallas, Texas. These are major triumphs, many would argue, for an identity movement that has been an active presence on America's political horizon for only several decades. In Robert W. Bailey presents the most comprehensive exploration to date of gay and lesbian politics in urban settings. Drawing from surveys of political attitudes and voting patterns among gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, Bailey's study is a revealing window into how sexual identity has fostered political alliances. The book investigates mayoral voting patterns in America's three largest cities--New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago--and presents four in-depth case studies of specific urban political settings: Birmingham, Alabama; New York City; Philadelphia; and San Francisco. Bailey addresses such issues as how policy is swayed in cities not known as gay centers and how specific issues are influenced in urban areas where gays and lesbians become part of the governing regime. Bringing together identity, queer, and social organization theories, this book offers a rich addition to the literature of political science and urban affairs, fields that call for a much closer relationship with lesbian and gay studies. In a broader sense, it seeks to reinvigorate the social science approach to the study of urban political phenomena.

About the Author

Robert W. Bailey is associate professor of public policy administration at Rutgers University, Camden.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (December 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231096631
• ISBN-13: 978-0231096638
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,508,583 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Identity politics lives, January 5, 2002

By	Steve Sanders "Steve Sanders" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Bailey, a political scientist who until his untimely death in 2001 was one of the foremost authorities on gay politics and voting patterns in large cities, blends data with detailed studies of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Birmingham, Alabama, to illustrate the role gays and lesbians play as distinctive members of urban political communities, where they have traditionally been part of liberal coalitions. Bailey argues that the ends of urban-based gay political involvement have had more to do with the definition and assertion of identity than with influencing the levers of economic policy-making. At a time when "identity politics" as a mode of analysis has fallen out of fashion in academic gay studies, Bailey compiles an impressive array of evidence that identity politics, at least in the urban setting, actually is becoming more important as municipal politicians seek to build coalitions and consensus.