ABSTRACT
The goal of this chapter is to look at the way LGBTQ+ policy entrepreneurs and lobbyists push back on Tolerable Inequality. This chapter asks under what circumstances LGBTQ+ policy entrepreneurs function as lobbyists. Policy entrepreneurs are individual actors that seek to attach their solutions to political problems. One way that they do this is by lobbying. This blended political behavior is the focus of this research. I argue that LGBTQ+ policy entrepreneurs serve as lobbyists under three conditions: (1) when they preference “loser” issues, (2) experience conditions of emotional taxation, and (3) engage with LGBTQ+ tactics. Two LGBTQ+ surveys (U.S. and international) are combined and analyzed. I find that lobbyists in both surveys believe the most emotionally burdening issue is LGBTQ+ mental health, highlighting the role of taxing issues. The international survey finds that LGBTQ+ lobbying behavior experiences the greatest degree of emotional taxation compared with other political roles. Based on an analysis of two surveys of LGBTQ+ activists and lobbyists, I find that one of the chief tactics is executed by the identities of who the lobbyists are. The data shows that 24% of lobbyists surveyed are transgender. Together, this study suggests that when LGBTQ+ policy entrepreneurs engage in certain types of lobbying behavior they cross a line and additional stress is placed on both them and the policy process.
