SOCIAL-MOVEMENT GROWTH, DOMAIN EXPANSION, AND FRAMING PROCESSES - THEGAY LESBIAN MOVEMENT AND VIOLENCE AGAINST GAYS AND LESBIANS AS A SOCIAL-PROBLEM/

This work offers an empirical analysis of 32 gay/lesbian sponsored ant i-violence projects in the United States. The analytic focus is on how gay and lesbian communities have brought attention to the scape and c onsequences of anti-gay and lesbian violence in the United States, whi ch ''has taken its place among such societal concerns as violence agai nst women, children and ethnic and racial groups'' (Comstock 1991:1). In large part, this is because within lesbian and gay communities acro ss the United States there has been an ''unprecedented level of organi zing against violence'' (National Gay and Lesbian Task Force 1991:22). This activism continues to include documenting the incidents and prev alence of anti-gay and lesbian violence, establishing crisis intervent ion and victim assistance programs, sponsoring public education campai gns, and undertaking surveillance efforts in the form of street patrol s. My analysis of these activities brings together elements of the soc ial problems and the social movements literature; it demonstrates that domain expansion (Best 1990) accompanies social movement growth and p rovides a necessary resource for framing select social conditions as a social problem.