Robert W. Bailey Papers

Provenance

Donated in 2002 by Brian O’Dell, Bailey’s life partner.

Scope and Content

Papers consist primarily of political science papers and reports concerning LGBTQ voting patterns in local, congressional and presidential elections, as well as anti-gay hate crimes, gay neighborhoods and population density, and gay membership in multiethnic coalitions. Papers also include a small collection of gay-related special postmarks and stamps, as well as legal documents and news clippings pertaining to lawsuit against the Mine Shaft sex club.

History or Bio

Robert W. Bailey was professor of public policy and administration at Rutgers University, Camden. Until his death in 2001, he was one of the foremost authorities in the United States on LGBTQ voting patterns in presidential and congressional elections from the 1990s on. He authored the ground-breaking book Gay Politics, Urban Politics (1999), which charts the growth of the gay vote in mayoral elections in various American cities. As a consultant to the New York City Districting Commission in 1990, Bailey was the principal technical author in creating a district that could elect an openly LGBTQ Councilmember. (That seat was later won by Tom Duane, the first openly gay man on the City Council, who was succeeded by Christine Quinn, a lesbian who became City Council Speaker.) Bailey was also one of the founders of the Gay and Lesbian Caucus of the American Political Science Association in 1988.

Folder List