ABSTRACT
The LGBTQ advocacy community is two different movements: radical queer and gay mainstream movements that are in competition with one another. This chapter reviews the tactics that gay mainstream movement hegemons used to control or advantage themselves over the radical queer movement. To do this, I review how LGBTQ activists in each movement use key tactics employed in the United States. These policy tools, lobbying strategies, and social movement activities stand out for the unique way they highlight these different approaches to LGBTQ equality and coalition interaction. LGBTQ policy tools are different for several reasons. First, the context of the political environment is contentious. This facilitates a tension where presumed allies are often more dangerous to an organization’s success than their anti-LGBTQ opponents. Second, LGBTQ issues have been considered a “loser issue” at the federal political level, until very recently. This affects the way groups organize themselves and are able to mobilize or fail to assemble support. Third, the roles of an organizational hegemon in representing the LGBTQ community is analyzed to show how control is often centralized.
