Courts, the Ballot Box, and Gay Rights

Joseph Mello is assistant professor of political science at DePaul University in Chicago.

• Acknowledgments1. The Mobilization of Bias2. Citizens or Deviants? Rights and the Construction of Gay Identities3. Sites of Conflict: How Institutions Shape the Same-Sex Marriage Debate4. No Right to Object? Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage in the Golden State5. “A Place Apart”: Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage in Maine6. Taking (or Leaving) the Initiative ProcessAppendix A. Same-Sex Marriage Ballot MeasuresAppendix B. Individualism Master Frame Logit RegressionAppendix C. Religion, Threat, or Slippery Slope Subframe Logit RegressionNotesWorks CitedCases CitedIndex

By focusing on opponents of same-sex marriage and institutional contexts, Mello’s book makes a much-needed contribution to the scholarship on lesbian, gay bisexual, and transgender politics in the United States."—Political Science Quarterly"A model of lucid, accessible prose . . . Mello gives his audience an excellent example of a mixed methodology in practice and sheds light on important issues of interest to legal scholars, sociologists, and political scientists alike."—American Review of Politics"An interesting and thoughtful examination of how the political system shapes debates such as the same-sex marriage debate. The author attempts to help us better understand how institutional norms and constraints shape the debate over issues involving fundamental rights."—Choice"In The Courts, the Ballot Box, and Gay Rights, Joseph Mello provides a nuanced, detailed analysis of the importance of context for the development of arguments for and against same-sex marriage. This book fundamentally transforms our understanding of how social movements develop arguments by connecting two arenas of contention that are typically analyzed separately—the courts and the ballot box." —Amy L. Stone, author of Gay Rights at the Ballot Box"Joseph Mello shifts attention from the conventional question of which officials should decide policy issues to how different institutional environments variably shape the structure and terms of policy debates. The author offers an extended case study of conservative opposition to marriage equality in and beyond the courtroom to illustrate his thesis about variations in organizational ‘bias.’ Scholars interested in rights-based social movements, institutional policy processes, and socio-legal studies generally will find this clearly written, well organized book both insightful and compelling."—Michael McCann, author of Rights at Work: Pay Equity Reform and the Politics of Legal Mobilization