Minority Group Interests and Political Representation: Gay Elected Officials in the Policy Process
Issue Date
2000Author
Haider-Markel, Donald P.
Joslyn, Mark R.
Kniss, Chad J.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Of key importance to groups in a democracy is the political representation of their interests in the
policy process. The most obvious strategy of groups to achieve representation is to elect officials
that identify with group interests. Our research examines the political representation of lesbian and
gay interests, exploring the influence of openly gay elected officials on domestic partner policies.
Based on the literature, we select and operationalize variables that may influence policy adoption. Analysis on a dataset of 270 localities suggests that elected gay officials are an important determinant for achieving substantive political representation. Our findings also suggest that supportive non-gay elected officials can effectively represent gays in the policy process.
Description
This is the publisher's version, which is also available electronically from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/0022-3816.00026
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Citation
Haider-Markel, Donald P, Mark R. Joslyn, and Chad J. Kniss. 2000.
“Minority Group Interests and Political Representation: Gay Elected
Officials in the Policy Process.” The Journal of Politics 62(2):568-77.
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