Fears of group power, often anchored in conspiratorial thinking, form a common theme in public discussion of minority groups. This paper explores the role that fears of gay group power play in forming attitudes and policy preferences towards gay men and lesbians. The paper explores this topic...

For the past eight years opponents of same-sex marriage have turned to the ballot initiative to block same-sex marriage in the states. This paper examines the key demographic and political factors determining success of state constitutional same-sex marriage bans. Opponents of same-sex marriage...

In the aftermath of Proposition 8 - a California constitutional amendment that repealed the rights of gay and lesbian couples to marry - news articles and scholars alike vigorously debated the differences in support for the measure across racial and ethnic groups. In particular, there was...

The language of contamination and pollution has long been used to ostracize members of out-groups, and the situation of gay and lesbian individuals in the United States today is no exception. Scholars have argued that this form of body politics is extremely powerful because it draws on feeling...

Using Schneider and Ingram's social construction model, this paper evaluates the construction and presentation of gay marriage within the legal field. Starting with the first judicial opinion of gay marriage in Hawaii and concluding with the most recent California decision, the paper evaluates...

There have been two competing tropes regarding minority political identity in American society. In one, minorities-- African Americans and Latinos in particular--are suspected of being, at their core, un-American, by which we mean failing to reflect deeply rooted values regarding individualism...

In this paper, I will estimate the dimensionality of public attitudes toward science, and assess the effects of religious belief, membership, and participation on the structure and distribution of attitudes toward science. In so doing, I hope to address the question of whether, and to what...

In the 1970s the United States government initiated the 'War on Drugs'. Soon after, states enacted legislation imposing harsh sentences for drug offenders. The public quickly voiced objections to the impacts of the sentencing laws. States changed their laws, claiming the changes were a response...

Now that immigration reform is at the top of the Obama agenda and likely to be a key topic of debate in the next presidential election, we must evaluate how mass opinion on the issue will respond to proposed solutions and other related concerns. More importantly, we must recognize that the...

On August 31, 2010, President Obama declared an end to the long and costly "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Although the presidential address was in part intended as an announcement towards ending the Iraq War, it specifically denoted the official end of the US combat mission in Iraq, leaving 58,000...