Weaponized: Young People and the Politics of Immigration and Gay Rights

Young people often lie at the center of pivotal conflicts, decisions, and changes in American politics. Children are familiar and important subjects of law and policy, but they also are prominent symbols, agents, and targets for rival political movements battling over issues ranging from climate change and racial justice to gun control and public health. Until reaching the age of majority, young people in democratic societies are traditionally accorded special protections to guard their best interests until reaching adulthood. In this article, however, we demonstrate how this emphasis on child welfare is regularly upended when young people are mobilized in political struggles. Focusing on two key flashpoints over time—immigration control and LGBTQ rights—we show how young people are weaponized by adults in competing movements for political gain. What emerges are patterns and processes of systemic advantage and exclusion, with some children treated as precious charges and others as political collateral.