Transgender Rights and Politics: Groups, Issue Framing, and Policy Adoption

303 Pages·2014·10.41 MB·English

by  Jami K. Taylor

Revised Pages
Transgender Rights and Politics
To date, the media has focused on the gay community’s call for the end of
discrimination and for marriage equality. Likewise, most of the scholarship
on gay politics and policy has focused on the morality debates over sexual
orientation and the legal aspects of rights for nonheterosexuals. With the
intense focus on gay and lesbian rights, transgender concerns have
received little attention, from either the media or researchers in political
science. However, as transgender activism has become more visible,
policymakers, both in the United States and around the world, have begun
to respond to demands for more equitable treatment.
In this volume, Jami K. Taylor and Donald P. Haider- Markel bring
together new research employing the concepts and tools of political
science to explore the politics of transgender rights. Volume contributors
address the framing of transgender rights in the United States and in Latin
America. They discuss transgender interest groups, the inclusion of
transgender activists in advocacy coalitions, policy diffusion at the state
and local levels, and, importantly, the implementation of transgender
public policy. This volume sets the standard for empirical research on
transgender politics and demonstrates that the study of this topic can
contribute to the understanding of larger questions in the field of political
science.
Jami K. Taylor is Associate Professor of Political Science and Public
Administration at the University of Toledo.
Donald P. Haider-M arkel is Professor of Political Science and Chair at the
University of Kansas.
Revised Pages
Revised Pages
Transgender Rights and Politics
Groups, Issue Framing, and Policy Adoption
Edited by Jami K. Taylor and
Donald P. Haider-M arkel
University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor
Revised Pages
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2014
All rights reserved
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (be-
yond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by re-
viewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher.
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
c Printed on acid- free paper
2017 2016 2015 2014 4 3 2 1
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Transgender rights and politics : groups, issue framing, and policy adoption /
edited by Jami K. Taylor and Donald P. Haider- Markel.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978- 0- 472- 07235- 4 (hardcover : alk. paper) — isbn 978- 0- 472- 05235- 6 (pbk. : alk.
paper) — isbn 978- 0- 472- 12060- 4 (e- book)
1. Transgender people— Civil rights. 2. Transgender people—L egal status, laws, etc.
3. Sex and law. I. Taylor, Jami K., editor of compilation. II. Haider- Markel, Donald P.,
editor of compilation.
HQ77.9.T7173 2014
306.76'8— dc23
2014018293
Revised Pages
Contents
Introduction to Transgender Rights and Politics 1
Jami K. Taylor and Donald P. Haider- Markel
Framing in the United States and Abroad
1 | Issue Framing and Transgender Politics: An Examination
of Interest Group Websites and Media Coverage
Barry L. Tadlock 25
2 | Transgender Policy in Latin American Countries:
An Overview and Comparative Perspective on Framing
Jacob R. Longaker and Donald P. Haider-M arkel 49
Advocacy and Interest Groups
3 | Interest Groups and Transgender Politics:
Opportunities and Challenges
Anthony J. Nownes 83
4 | The Advocacy Coalition Framework and Transgender
Inclusion in LGBT Rights Activism
Jami K. Taylor and Daniel C. Lewis 108
The Diffusion and Implementation of Transgender- Inclusive
Nondiscrimination Policy
5 | Transgender- Inclusive Ordinances in Cities:
Form of Government, Local Politics, and Vertical Influences
Jami K. Taylor, Barry L. Tadlock, Sarah J. Poggione,
and Brian DiSarro 135
Revised Pages
vi | Contents
6 | Is Transgender Policy Different? Policy Complexity, Policy
Diffusion, and LGBT Nondiscrimination Law
Daniel C. Lewis, Jami K. Taylor, Brian DiSarro,
and Matthew L. Jacobsmeier 155
7 | Executive Expansion of Transgender Rights:
Electoral Incentives to Issue or Revoke Executive Orders
Mitchell D. Sellers 189
8 | Policy Learning, Language, and Implementation
by Local Governments with Transgender- Inclusive
Nondiscrimination Policies
Mitchell D. Sellers and Roddrick Colvin 208
Beyond Nondiscrimination Policy
9 | Key Issues in Transgender Health Care Policy and Practice
Ryan Combs 231
10 | Birth Certificate Amendment Laws and Morality Politics
Jami K. Taylor, Barry L. Tadlock, and Sarah J. Poggione 252
11 | Conclusion and Future Directions in
Transgender Politics and Policy
Jami K. Taylor and Donald P. Haider- Markel 273
Contributors 283
Index 287
Revised Pages
Jami K. Taylor and Donald P. Haider- Markel
Introduction to Transgender Rights and Politics
Over the past few decades, gay civil rights have been center stage in Amer-
ican politics. Incessant battles over issues such as same-s ex marriage, gays
in the military, and legislation banning discrimination have been waged.
Regardless of one’s position on these issues, it is difficult to deny the im-
pact of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights
movement on American politics and society. However, when we speak of
LGBT issues, there is a tendency to focus on policy based on one’s sexual
orientation. This ignores an important segment of the LGBT community,
transgender people. Despite being an afterthought, which, politically, it
often has been for the LGBT movement, the transgender community
raises important concerns for governance and our theoretical understand-
ings of the democratic process (Taylor 2007; Johnson 2011).
To address these issues, this edited volume brings together needed
scholarship on transgender advocacy and policy. Its goal is to provide a
clear and penetrable exploration of transgender issues in politics. This is
certainly needed given that a recent issue of the Journal of Public Affairs
Education (Johnson 2011) identified transgender rights as a topic that pub-
lic affairs programs should address. This volume brings together experts on
administration, public policy, public opinion, and state politics to examine
the phenomenon of transgender advocacy in largely democratic political
systems. Importantly, this compilation departs from existing queer theory
and legal approaches to the topic and applies empirical testing and exami-
nation of questions related to transgender rights. Collectively, the authors
provide new insights on this increasingly salient policy area.
Transgender- Related Policy in the United States
As of 2013, as shown in figure 1, fifteen states and the District of Columbia
had passed hate crimes laws that protect on the basis of gender identity
Revised Pages
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