Weathering Change: Gays and Lesbians, Christian Conservatives, and Everyday Hostilities

Sociology of Religion, Winter, 2004 by Melissa M. Wilcox

Weathering Change: Gays and Lesbians, Christian Conservatives, and Everyday Hostilities, by THOMAS J. LINNEMAN. New York: New York University Press, 2003, 267pp.; $55.00 cloth, $19.00 paper.

Weathering Change is, literally, a tale of two cities in the geographically and politically divided state of Washington. More to the point, it is a complex analysis of political climate realities and perceptions among two groups in each of those two cities: gay men and lesbians, and Christian conservatives, in liberal Seattle and conservative Spokane. Using content analysis of an impressive number of opinion-section pieces from Spokane and Seattle newspapers; demographic and opinion data from the GSS, NES, and Front Porch Forum databases; and in-depth interviews with a representative sample of community leaders ("activists") and less high-profile community members ("non-activists") from both communities in both cities, Linneman addresses several important questions regarding the interactions of individuals with political climates. These questions include the criteria used by members of each group to evaluate the local political climate, strategies used to influence that climate, interaction of the two groups in evaluating or influencing their climates (i.e., conservative Christians interpreting advances in LGBT rights as concomitant political losses for conservative Christian communities), and the level of agreement between participants' subjective evaluations of their climates and "objective" measurements, such as opinion poll data. Furthermore, the cross-comparison of a conservative and a liberal group in a conservative and a liberal city allows Linneman to consider the differences between these groups' definitions of hostility and friendliness in their environments.

There are, in fact, a number of differences that Linneman finds pertinent, both between the groups themselves and between the cities within each group. For instance, counter to what one might assume, Linneman found that lesbians and gay men in Spokane were less critical of their local media than those in Seattle; he explains this by pointing out that many in Spokane were encouraged by the increasing openness of the media to their perspectives, whereas their counterparts on the western side of the state were accustomed to generally positive coverage and were thus in a position to critique the media more closely. Likewise, there were differences between the groups in their expectations of the media. Conservative Christians who participated in Linneman's study often felt that only other conservative Christians could accurately represent them, so the criterion by which they evaluated the media climate was representation in hiring. Lesbians and gay men were more concerned with the level and accuracy of media coverage of their issues.

Interestingly, the latter contrast held true more broadly as well. In evaluating the friendliness or hostility of the general public and of the local, state, and national governments, Christians tended in part to look for the number of Christians, while lesbians and gay men focused more on the public's awareness of and support for their community. Furthermore, "Christian conservatives tend to focus on the permissible actions of their own members within the political sphere: the political climate determines what conservative Christians can and cannot do. Gay men and lesbians focus on the permissible actions of others." (120; italics in original).

Most striking, though, were two of the strongest trends in Linneman's study. First, lesbians and gay men overall, and especially in Spokane, were far more likely than Christian conservatives to discuss self-identification as a source of risk: risking job loss, housing loss, vandalism, and physical violence. Second, far more Christian conservatives than lesbians and gay men (again, in both cities, but this time weighted slightly toward Seattle) attended closely to gay men and lesbians as indicators of the hostility or friendliness of their own political environment.

Weathering Change is timely and well designed as well as highly readable. Linneman writes in a professional but accessible style, and he includes short conclusions in each chapter that weave his data and his analysis together, producing a nicely interlocked whole. There are a few potential difficulties with group definitions in the study--for example, Linneman's introduction discusses the conservative Christian and gay/lesbian movements but the study goes on to focus on individuals who may or may not identify with such movements. Furthermore, although Linneman notes the difficulty of defining conservative Christianity (13-14), it is noticeable that his working definition seems to exclude conservative Catholics.

Overall, however, problems with this study are few. It is an important contribution to the sociology of religion as well as to political sociology, and it is potentially useful in both advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. With the currency of Linneman's topics and the skill of his coverage, the book should appeal to students and researchers alike.