As the end of my semester of service draws near, I searched through my book for good quotes to use in my documentary. The big picture of the book was the effect of public perception and institution control on the successes of the gay community. I thought this was a good thesis that I agreed with, so here are some of the quotes which I found in the book to help support the thesis (and possibly my documentary).
- "The extent to which Americans perceive it's goals as threatening and how political institutions mediate the resistance that arises from those perceptions shape the movement's chances for success" (P. 240)
- "Gay rights supporters fare better, on balance, when state and local levels of government address their concerns than when they go to Washington" (p.243)
- "All fifty states had sodomy laws until Illinois repealed its statute in 1961 and Connecticut followed in 1961" (p. 121)
- "Even with the liberalization of sexual expression and decriminalization of "victimless crimes" in the 1960's and 1970's, states that retained their sodomy laws enforced them disproportionately against homosexuals, and other states rewrote their laws to prohibit only sodomy between homosexuals. Sodomy laws were only one weapon that the state used to harass, punish and intimidate gays and other "degenerates" who did not subscribe to mainstream sexual and gender norms" (p. 120)