ABSTRACT
This article has three agendas. First, I offer an explanation for a set of rather specific political events. Why did President Clinton campaign on the military and homosexuality issue? Why did he make it one of his first Presidential deeds? Second, I describe how the lesbian/gay movement used the media to create what could be best termed a political "spectacle"1 as a means to achieve the specific policy objective of ending the military ban. Third, by contrasting the media spectacle that prefaced the controversy over the homosexual ban with the media spectacle that preceded the reversal of the legislation barring women from combat pilot positions, I wish to offer some observations about the efficacy of political theater in achieving particular policy ends.
