This article links the success of gay-themed programming in the 1990s to the sensibility of an emerging class of Socially Liberal, Urban-Minded Professionals (the “Slumpy” class). In the era's neoliberal climate where multicultural celebrations of diversity mixed with calls for fiscal responsibility, being socially liberal and fiscally conservative became the political position of choice for a growing number of well-educated and upwardly mobile baby boomers and Generation Xers. As it came to be articulated in the ’90s, homosexuality fit conveniently into this delicate balance. Highly visible political battles over gay rights gave homosexuality a cutting-edge allure dulled just enough by its assimilationist goals. Meanwhile gays and lesbians, reported to be well educated with a disproportionate amount of disposable income, seemed to be economically self-sufficient. For those looking for an affordable politics of social liberalism, supporting gays and lesbians fit the bill, and consuming gay-inclusive television offered members of the Slumpy class a convenient way to affirm their openmindedness.
Abramovitz, Mimi, and AnnWithorn. 1999. Playing by the Rules: Welfare Reform and the New Authoritarian States. In Without Justice for All: The New Liberalism and Our Retreat from Racial Equality, edited by Adolph Reed, Jr.Boulder, CO: Westview.
2.
Academic in Opposition. 1991. Time, April 1, 66-69.
3.
Adler, Jerry, MarkStarr, FaraiChideya, LyndaWright, PatWingert, and Linda Haac. 1990. Taking Offense. Newsweek, December 24, 48-54.
4.
Allen, Gray. 1991. Valuing Cultural Diversity; Industry Woos a New Work Force. IABC Communications World, May, 14-14.
5.
Amos, Denise Smith. 1993. Companies Crusading for a Cause. Publisher's Weekly, July 18, 12-12.
6.
Ang, Ien. 1991. Desperately Seeking the Audience. London: Routledge.
7.
Aronowitz, Stanley. 1992. The Politics of Identity: Class, Culture, Social Movements. New York: Routledge.
8.
Beck, Melinda, Daniel Glick, and Peter Annin. 1993. A (Quiet) Uprising in the Ranks. Newsweek, June 21, 60-60.
9.
Becker, Ron. 1998. Prime-Time Television in the Gay Nineties: Network Television, Quality Audiences, and Gay Politics. The Velvet Light Trap, no. 42:36-47.
10.
Berenstein, Richard. 1990. The Rising Hegemony of the Politically Correct. The New York Times, October 28, 1-1.
11.
Bowens, Howard, Jarrow Merenivitch, L. Patricia Johnson, Anthony R. James, and Debra J. McFadden-Bryant. 1993. Managing Cultural Diversity towards True Multiculturalism: Some Knowledge from the Black Perspective. In Diversity and Differences in Organizations: AnAgenda for Answers andQuestions, edited by Ronald R. Sims and Robert F. Dennehy. Westport, CT: Quorum.
12.
Brooks, David. 2000. Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There. New York: Simon & Schuster.
13.
Brown, Michael K.1999. Race in the American Welfare State: The Ambiguities of “Universalistic” Social Policy since the New Deal. In Without Justice for All: The New Liberalism and Our Retreat from Racial equality, edited by Adolph Reed, Jr.Boulder, CO: Westview.
14.
Buchanan, Pat. 1992. The Election Is about WhoWe Are. Vital Speeches of the Day58 (23): 712-715.
15.
Carson, Teresa. 1992. Agencies Push Gay Market Ads to Banks. The American Banker, May 21, 6-6.
16.
Cavanaugh, J. Michael. 1997. (In)corporating the Other? Managing the Politics of Workplace Difference. In Managing the Organizational Melting Pot: Dilemmas of Workplace Diversity, edited by Pushkala Prasda, Albert J. Mills, Michael Elmes, and Anshuman Prasad. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
17.
Chasin, Alexandra. 2000. Selling Out: The Gay & Lesbian Movement Goes to Market. New York: St. Martin's.
18.
Chura, Hillary. 1999. Miller Reconsiders Gay-ThemedTVSpot. Advertising Age, July 12, 3-3.
19.
Clark, Terry Nichols, and Ronald Inglehart. 1998. The New Political Culture: Changing Dynamics of Support for the Welfare State and Other Policies in Postindustrial Societies. In The New Political Culture, edited by Terry Nichols Clark and Ronald Inglehart, 9-72. Boulder, CO: Westview.
20.
D’Acci, Julie. 1994. DefiningWomen: Television and the Case of Cagney& Lacy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
21.
Dreyfuss, Robert. 1999. The Holy War on Gays. Rolling Stone, March 18.
D'souza, Dinesh. 1991b. Sins of Admission. New Republic, February 18, 30-33.
24.
D'souza, Dinesh. 1991c. The Visogoths in Tweeds. Forbes, April 1, 81-86.
25.
Du Brow, Rick. 1995. Television; Networking ’90s Style. Los Angeles Times, April 9.
26.
Elliott, Stuart. 1993. A Survey Says that Cause-Oriented Campaigns Don’t Just Make People Feel Good, They Work, Too. The New York Times, December 6. Retrieved from http://www.lexis-nexis.com.
27.
Elber, Lynn. 1993. MTV's Reality Based Soap Opera, “RealWorld” Returns. Associated Press, June 22. Retrieved from http://www.lexis-nexis.com.
28.
Evan, Roland. 1993. Shalala Belies Clinton's Centrist Image. Chicago Sun-Times, January 8.
29.
Feuer, Jane. 1995. Seeing through the Eighties: Television and Reaganism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
30.
Fiske, John. 1994. Media Matters: Everyday Culture and Political Change. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
31.
Florida, Richard. 2002. The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's TransformingWork, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books.
32.
Gamble, Andrew. 2001. Neo-Liberalism. Capital & Class75 (Autumn): 127-134.
33.
Gardner, Dan. 2000. Gen X at UA. The Ottawa Citizen, January 29.
34.
Gentile, Mary C.1994. Introduction. In Differences that Work: Organizational Excellence through Diversity, edited by Mary C. Gentile. Boston: Harvard Business Review Book.
35.
Gluckman, Amy, and Betsy Reed, eds. 1997. Homo Economics: Capitalism, Community, and Lesbian and Gay Life. New York: Routledge.
36.
Goode, Judith, and Jeff Maskovsky. 2001. Introduction to The New Poverty Studies: The Ethnography of Power, Politics, and Impoverished People in the United States. New York: New York University Press, 4-4.
37.
Hage, Ghassan. 1994. Locating Multiculturalism's Other: A Critique of Practical Tolerance. New Formations24 (Winter): 19-34.
38.
He Wants to Pull the Plug on the PC. 1990. Newsweek, December 24, 52-53.
39.
Hill, Kevin A.1997. Generations and Tolerance: Is Youth Really a Liberalizing Factor? In After the Boom: The Politics of Generation X, edited by Stephan C. Craig and Stephan Earl Bennett. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littfield.
40.
hooks, bell. 1992. Black Looks. Boston: South End Press.
41.
Jetter, Alexis. 1993. Goodbye to the Last Taboo. Vogue, July, 86-88.
42.
Johnston, W. B., and A. H. Packard. 1987. Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Century. Indianapolis, IN: Hudson.
43.
Kalafut, Kathy. 1992. Alternative Demos; Profile on Aka Communications, Inc.Mediaweek, September 14, 32-32.
44.
Kamp, David. 1993. The Straight A Queer. Gentleman's Quarterly, July, 95.
45.
Kantrowitz, Barbara, and Danzy Senna. 1993. A Town Like No Other. Newsweek, June 21, 56-57.
46.
Kasindorf, Russell. 1993. Lesbian Chic: The Brave, NewWorld of GayWomen. New York, May 10, 30-37.
47.
“Liberal” Specter Joins GOP Race. 1995. St. Petersburg Times. March 31.
48.
Lund, Michael. 1995. The Radical Center or the Moderate Middle. New York Times Magazine, December 3, 72-72.
49.
MacDonald, Heather. 1993. The Diversity Industry. The New Republic, July 5, 24-24.
50.
Masey, Douglas S., and Nancy A. Denton. 1993. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
51.
McCarthy, Colman. 1993. HereComesSanta Cause. Washington Post, December 14.
52.
Oliver, Melvin L., James H. Johnson, Jr., and Walter C. Farrell, Jr.1993. Anatomy of a Rebellion: APolitical-Economic Analysis. In Reading Rodney King, Reading Urban Uprising, edited by Robert Gooding-Williams. New York: Routledge.
53.
Peters, Michael, A.2001. Poststructuralism, Marxism, and Neoliberalism: Between Theory and Politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
54.
Piven, Frances Fox. 2001. Welfare Reform and the Economic and Cultural Reconstruction of LowWage Labor Markets. In The New Poverty Studies: The Ethnography of Power, Politics, and Impoverished People in the United States, edited by Judith Goode and Jeff Mushovsky. New York: New York University Press.
55.
Postrel, Virginia I.1993. Lost Causes. Reason, January, 4.
56.
Powers, Ann. 1993. Queer in the Streets, Straight in the Sheets. Village Voice, June 29, 30-30.
57.
Prasad, Pushkala, and Albert J. Mills. 1997. From Showcase to shadow: Understanding the Dilemma of Workplace Diversity. In Managing the Organizational Melting Pot: Dilemmas ofWorkplace Diversity, edited by Pushkala Prasda, Albert J. Mills, Michael Elmes, and Anshuman Prasad. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
58.
Prescott, Peter S.1990. Learning to Love the PC Canon. Newsweek, December 24, 50-51.
59.
Rubin, Sylvia. 1993. The New Lesbian Chic. San Francisco Chronicle, June 22.
60.
Rutherford, Jonathan. 1990. APlace Called Home: Identity and the Cultural Politics of Difference. In Identity, Community, Culture, Difference, edited by Jonathan Rutherford. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
61.
Salholtz, Eloise, Daniel Glick, Lucille Beachy, Carey Monerrate, Patricia King, Jeanne Gordon, and Todd Barrett. 1993. The Power and the Pride. Newsweek, June 21, 54-60.
62.
Schulman, Sarah. 1995. Gay Marketeers. The Progressive, July, 28.
63.
Schwartz, Stephan. 1995. Colors of the wind. On original soundtrack recording for Pocahontas. Burbank, California: Wonderland Music Company, Inc. (BMI)/Walt Disney Music Company (ASCAP).
64.
Sims, Serbrenia J., and Ronald R. Sims. 1993. Diversity and Difference Training in the United States. In Diversity and Differences in Organizations: An Agenda for Answers and Questions, edited by Ronald R. Sims and Robert F Dennehy. Westport, CT: Quorum.
65.
Smith, Preston, H.1999. Self-Help, Black Conservatives, and the Reemergence of Black Privatism. In Without Justice for All: The New Liberalism and Our Retreat from Racial Equality, edited by Adolph Reed, Jr.Boulder, CO: Westview.
66.
Snead, Elizabeth. 1993. Lesbians in the Limelight. USA Today, July 13.
67.
Stewart, Thomas A.1991. Gay in Corporate America. Fortune, December 16, 50-50.
68.
Streitmatter, Roger. 1995. Unspeakable: The Rise of the Gay and Lesbian Press in America. Boston: Faber and Faber.
69.
Swisher, Kara. 1993. We Love Lesbians! Or Do We?Washington Post, July 18.
70.
Taylor, John. 1991. Are You Politically Correct?New York, January 21, 32-40.
71.
This Is What You Thought. 1996. Glamour, June, 141-141.
72.
Vaid, Urvashi. 1995. Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay & Lesbian Liberation. New York: Anchor.
73.
Will, George. 1991a. Curdled Politics on Campus. Newsweek, May 6, 72-72.
74.
Will, George. 1991b. Literary Politics. Newsweek, April 22, 72-72.
75.
Williams, Rhonda M.1993. Accumulation as Evisceration: Urban Rebellion and the New Growth Dynamics. In Reading Rodney King, Reading Urban Uprising, edited by Robert Gooding-Williams. New York: Routledge.
76.
Willis, Ellin. 1999. Don’t Think, Smile!: Notes on a Decade of Denial. Boston: Beacon.
77.
Wilson, John K.1995. The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
78.
Yudice, George. 1995. Neither Impugning nor Disavowing Whiteness Does aViable Politics Make: The Limits of Identity Politics. In After Political Correctness: The Humanities and Society in the 1990s, edited by Christopher Newfield and Ronald Strickland. Boulder, CO: Westview.
79.
Zoglin, Richard. 1993. The Shock of the Blue: Beavis and Butthead, Ted and Whoopi, Howard Stern and his “Private Parts”: Whatever Happened to Political Correctness—and Good Manners?Time, October 25, 71-71.
