ABSTRACT
Barbara Babcock notes that often groups of people or phenomena that are demographically or socially peripheral become symbolically central. Gay people are probably no more than 5 percent of the US population, and the number of gay and lesbian couples seeking to marry represents an even smaller percentage than that. President Bill Clinton’s expression of opposition to lesbian and gay marriage, and his decision to sign Defense of Marriage Act into law in October 1996, prevented same-sex marriage from becoming a major campaign issue in the final weeks of the 1996 presidential campaign. Under the banner of “compassionate conservatism,” President George W. Bush successfully positioned himself and his administration as moderate on a number of issues, including issues of concern to lesbians and gay men. Anti-gay groups appeal to populist sentiment when they say that the people should be able to decide whether to grant gay people rights through an up or down vote on a ballot question.
