Beating up queers: Discrimination, violence, and political attitudes in sexual minority communities

Sociologists began to document discrimination and violence against gay men and lesbians in the United States in the mid-1970s (San Miguel and Millhalm 1976). Evidence accumulated over the next 20 years of signifi cant discrimination in all areas of life, including employment, housing, and law enforcement. Until the landmark case of Lawrence v Texas1 in the summer of 2003, individual states were free to outlaw gay sex through sodomy statutes. Polls continually demonstrated that American public opinion held the gay community in lower esteem than almost any other social group (Wolfe 1998).