URBAN AFFAIRS REVIEW / November 1999Button et al. / THE ELECTION OF GAYS THE ELECTION OF OPENLY GAY PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES

As a newly emergent political minority, lesbians and gay men have begun to seek representation in political office, particularly at the local level. Using a purposeful sample of 126 cities and counties, the authors explore openly gay candidacies for, and election to, public office in the early 1990s. They employed four theoretical models—urbanism/social diversity, resource mobi-lization, political opportunity structure, and communal protest—that have been useful in explaining African-American, Latino, and female electoral success. The nature and pattern of electoral activities of lesbians and gay men are similar to those of other disadvantaged minorities. Since the early 1970s, an active gay and lesbian movement has contended for political influence in the United States. Although this activism has taken many forms, incorporating public education campaigns, cultural activity, legal initiatives, and direct action, a major focus of this effort has been con-ventional political activity. Arguing that gay people are an oppressed minor-ity denied equal treatment and opportunity, this movement has worked to establish political organizations, lobby for legislation, elect sympathetic can