Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: National cross-section samples of 21-28 newspapers examined coverage of three same-sex issues – gay adoption, gay marriage, and gays in the Boy Scouts of America -- using a “community structure approach.” Selecting all articles over a certain length published in the sample periods, city characteristics (including an innovative “Gay Market Index” and “Gay Legal Index”) were compared systematically with a composite measure of coverage combining article “prominence” and article “direction, calculating a “Media Vector” with maximum/minimum ranges of +1.00 to -1.00.

Pearson correlations, regression analysis and factor analysis found privilege or its absence significant for all three issues. If children are affected (Boy Scouts or same-sex adoption), a “buffer hypothesis” appears confirmed: The larger the proportion of privileged groups (college education or family income), the more favorable the coverage of (gay) rights claims. By contrast, the higher the “vulnerability” in a city (percents below poverty levels or unemployed), the less favorable the coverage of a gay issue not involving children: Same-sex marriage. Percent Catholic is significantly associated with favorable coverage of all three gay rights issues. Rotated factor analysis and regression of factors reveal two factors each accounted for 56 percent of the coverage variance for gays in the Boy Scouts, 57 percent for same-sex adoption, and 33 percent for same-sex marriage. Regional Media Vectors and public opinion were mostly aligned for all three gay rights issues, with both newspapers and public viewpoints most favorable to gays in the Northeast, both less favorable to gays in the South and Midwest.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: I examine Americans' judgments about homosexuality, explanations for its origins, stereotypes about gays and lesbians, and emotional reactions toward gays and lesbians, as well as how these are related to one another and to support for gay rights.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Objectives. This study sought to understand the interpersonal, social, and cultural contexts in which behavioral risk for HIV infection occurs among young gay men. Methods. Forty in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with white and Latino young gay men (ages 18-24) who were purposively recruited using a snowball sampling procedure. Results. Sexual risk behaviors occurred mainly in two social situations: primary relationships of presumed monogamy and sexual coercion. These young men also reported experiencing very little relevant sex education prior to engaging in sexual risk behaviors. Conclusion. This paper builds on previous knowledge about sexual risk for HIV among young gay men by focusing attention on the social contexts within which risk behaviors are reported. Recommendations are presented for meaningful and relevant HIV prevention interventions.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Most research about HIV among gay youth focuses on HIV risk behaviors. Many of the studies of gay youth are also driven by a deficit model of development. Scholars have argued that such deficit models may be contributing to their stigmatization while ignoring their resiliency (Savin-Williams, 2001). This paper focuses attention on a subset of the sexual stories told by young gay men interviewed as part of the “Sexual Stores” project. The “Sexual Stories” project was a qualitative inquiry into the lives of forty (twenty white and twenty Latino) young gay men between the ages of 18 and 24. Participants in this study were drawn using a snowball sampling procedure within each ethnic group. The interviewer employed a semi-structured interview method of data collection. The particular focus of this manuscript is to analyze how the interviews collected allow for examinations of safe sex accounts told by the young gay men. The authors illustrate, in qualitative detail, the young gay men’s experiences of sex education at school and the stories they tell about crafting their sexual lives. The text also provides recommendations for meaningful and relevant HIV prevention sex education guided by ‘gay-boy’ talk.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper uses data from exit polls conducted by the Voter News Service (VNS)
and survey data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) to show that gay
voters are very strong Democratic voters, and that identification with the Democratic
Party is becoming an increasingly important factor in how voters feel about gay issues.
The paper shows that the impact of sexual orientation on individual vote choice has
become as important as the effect of race—and that it dwarfs other commonly cited
factors in its impact on the vote. In addition, an examination of the opinion of the general
public on gay issues over time finds that party identification has played an ever-larger
role in the past two decades in determining how individuals feel about gay people and
gay rights. As political elites—demonstrated by roll-call votes in Congress—show an
increasing partisan divide over gay issues, so does the general public. More than ever,
gay voters identify with the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party is identified with
gay rights.