ABSTRACT
The 1992 elections offered both women and gay and lesbian voters an opportunity to flex their electoral muscles at all levels of government. Never before had women or gays and lesbians mobilized in ways that highlighted their electoral power. The October 1991 Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill senatorial hearings and the impending threat that the Supreme Court might well invalidate the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision surely helped awaken women to the power of their numbers. For gay and lesbian voters, the 1992 presidential election was the first in which a major party candidate, Bill Clinton, courted them by promising sustained federal government attention to AIDS and an overturning of the statute banning openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the military.
