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FREEDOM TO DIFFER
FREEDOM
TO
DIFFER
The Shaping of the Gay and Lesbian Struggle for Civil Rights
DIANE HELENE MILLER
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
© 1998 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Diane Helene, 1966-
Freedom to differ : the shaping of the gay and lesbian struggle
for civil rights / Diane Helene Miller.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8147-5595-X (cloth : alk.paper). ISBN 0-8147-5596-8
(pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Gay rights—United States—History. 2. Lesbians—Legal status,
laws, etc.—United States. 3. Women’s rights—United States—History.
4. Lesbian feminism—United States. 5. Achtenberg, Roberta.
6. Cammermeyer, Margarethe, 1942–. I. Title.
HQ76.8.U5M55 1988
306.76’6’0973—dc21 98-13816
CIP
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Anne and Anon, with love
Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.
—Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun,
from his dissent to Bowers v. Hardwick
CONTENTS
1. Constructions and Deconstructions Gay Politics, Lesbian Feminism, and Civil Rights
2. Clinton’s “Damn Lesbian” Politics and Visibility in the Achtenberg Debate
3. And the Ban Played On Politics and Prejudice in the Cammermeyer Case
4. Conclusion Envisioning Our Future
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The occasion of completing a book provides one of the rare moments in life in which one is compelled to cease one’s ongoing work, at least momentarily, and take stock of one’s emotional and intellectual debts: to give thanks where thanks are due. Doing so dispels the myth of the isolated writer, for while the process of writing can be a lonely one, a truer representation of scholarly work is one that casts a wider net to encompass a community of others who have influenced, directly or indirectly, that scholar’s work.
To begin at the beginning, I wish to thank my parents, Jay and Lois Miller, for instilling in me at an early age a love of learning, an understanding of the value of an education, and a strong work ethic to help me achieve it. They have endowed me with the intellectual and financial means, as well as the self-discipline, to pursue an excellent and extensive education. I am grateful for their generosity and the freedom and privilege they have given me to pursue my chosen career path. I also thank my sister, Elaine Miller; my brother, Ira Miller; and my sister-in-law, Ann Kowel Miller, for their love and support.
I am fortunate to be a feminist scholar at a time and in a place where my role models have been feminist women. My awakening as both a scholar and a feminist began at Trinity University as a student of Vicki Aarons, professor of English, who is without question the finest teacher I have ever known. She introduced me to the excitement of the life of the mind and to the importance and joys of feminist scholarship. My admiration for her, the knowledge and skills I acquired in her classroom, and the guidance she provided shaped my undergraduate years as well as my future career. Trinity itself will always be a second home to me, and so much of who I am has been influenced by the people and ideas I first encountered there.
My feminist education has been furthered by other strong women who have been my teachers, either formally or unofficially. In the former group, Cindy Jenefsky, Celeste Condit, Ramona Liera-Schwichtenberg, and Evelyn Fox Keller taught me much of what I know about feminist
