Gay and lesbian vs. homosexual

[dpinello at jjay.cuny.edu]

I've asserted that members of the lesbian and gay community prefer to 
self-identify as either "lesbian" or "gay" and not as "homosexual."  
(In fact, I believe there's about as much affinity within that 
community for "homosexual" and "homosexuality" as descriptive terms as 
there is today in the African-American community for "Negro.")  The 
assertion forms an essential element of my preferred-reference-ratio 
analysis, which in turn supplies the empirical basis for my claim of 
antigay animus regarding Justice Scalia.

Professor Volokh and other list subscribers disagree in whole or in 
part with my self-identification assertion and question the empirical 
evidence I've offered to back it up.  My prior proof was indeed half-
hearted, if only because I naively thought the claim self-evident.  
That's why I said, "Other confirmations [of the self-identification 
preference assertion] are available but I don't want to belabor the 
point."

But apparently I need to.

An excellent reflection of American cultural, political, and social 
communities are the interest groups and other organizations that serve 
them.  Such groups are usually utterly dependent on the financial 
support of their targeted populations and can't survive without their 
approval.

So what names do groups within the homosexual/gay/lesbian community 
use to attract dues-paying members and other financial contributors?  
Do they choose "homosexual" or "gay and lesbian" to market their 
services to that community?

I've compiled a partial list of such national organizations at the end 
of this message.  (Adding state and local organizations would increase 
the list by many fold.)  Judge for yourself what the answer to the 
question is.

With this evidence in mind, how dispassionate was Justice Scalia's 
choice to use "homosexual" and "homosexuality" 109 out of 110 times 
when he needed to make reference to that community in the Lawrence and 
Romer dissents?

Even in the unlikely event that Justice Scalia had virtually no prior 
knowledge of that community and its self-identification preferences, 
these organizations alone filed briefs in Lawrence and Romer: the 
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force; Parents, Families & Friends of 
Lesbians & Gays; the National Center for Lesbian Rights; Gay & Lesbian 
Advocates & Defenders; the Gay & Lesbian Alliance against Defamation; 
the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association; Gay and Lesbian Lawyers 
of Philadelphia; the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association of South 
Florida; the Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater New York; the 
Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association of Los Angeles; the Lesbian and 
Gay Bar Association of Chicago; United Methodists for Gay, Lesbian and 
Bisexual Concerns; the Mennonite Council for Lesbian and Gay Concerns; 
Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns; the United Church Coalition 
for Lesbian & Gay Concerns; and the World Congress of Gay and Lesbian 
Jewish Organizations.

Whereas, not one group with "homosexual" in its name filed a brief in 
Lawrence or Romer.

Don't those facts alone inform a dispassionate observer that the 
community of interest with which he or she is dealing prefers "gay and 
lesbian" as a descriptive and not "homosexual"?

Yet the latter still got the nod 109 out of 110 times.

Dan Pinello

P.S.  Probably to the delight of many, I won't be able to participate 
further in this debate.  An unfinished book manuscript demands my 
whole attention for the rest of the month.


A Partial List of National Interest Groups and Other Organizations 
(not listed earlier in this message) Within the Homosexual/Gay/Lesbian 
Community:

Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
The Association of Gay & Lesbian Psychiatrists
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, City University of New York
The Committee on Lesbian and Gay History, American Historical 
Association
The Federation of Gay Games
Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues
The Gay & Lesbian Association of Choruses
The Gay & Lesbian Medical Association
The Gay & Lesbian National Hotline
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
The Gay Men's Health Crisis
The Gay Officers Action League
The Gay Realty Network
The Homosexual Information Center (established 1965)
The Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies
The International Gay Bowling Organization
The International Gay Rodeo Association
The Lesbian & Gay Band Association
The Lesbian & Gay Country Music Association
The Lesbian Health Fund
The Lesbian Herstory Archives
The National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian & Gay Ministries
The National Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender 
Community Centers
The National Archive of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender History
The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
The National Gay Newspaper Guild
The National Latino/a Lesbian & Gay Organization
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
Senior Action in a Gay Environment