Identities and politics: Toward a historical understanding of the lesbian and gay movement (original) (raw)

The article utilizes the national state-oriented lesbian and gay movement to interrogate the binary distinction between cultural and political movements prevalent in social movement literature. By integrating political process theory with identity theory, the author proposes a "political identity" framework that elucidates how the lesbian and gay movement dynamically balances both cultural and political objectives. Through an analysis of primary documents, key informant interviews, and secondary sources, the study contends that contextual and structural factors, rather than a static conception of identity, better explain the movement's focus on cultural and political transformation.