Degrees of Acceptance: Variation in Public Attitudes toward Segments of the LGBT Community

• Date: 01 December 2017
• Published date: 01 December 2017
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912917717352
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912917717352

Political Research Quarterly

2017, Vol. 70(4) 861 –875

© 2017 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912917717352

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Article

American attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-

gender (LGBT) rights often favor legal equality, and sur-

veys indicate that those opinions have generally moved in

a pro-LGBT direction in recent years, following a string

of policy successes at the state and national levels

(Baunach 2012; Flores and Barclay 2016; Kreitzer,

Hamilton, and Tolbert 2014). For example, support for

same-sex marriage increased in the past decade from 27

percent to 60 percent (Gallup 2016), and 69 percent of

Americans support a federal nondiscrimination law pro-

tecting LGBT people from discrimination in employ-

ment, housing, and public accommodations (Lorenz

2015). While these relatively high-polling numbers sug-

gest broad support for LGBT rights, it is important to rec-

ognize that the LGBT community includes a diverse set

of groups, including those based on sexual orientation

and/or gender identity. It is not clear from current research

whether positive public sentiment applies equally to the

various groups under the LGBT umbrella. Most of the

public and scholarly attention to the LGBT movement

centers on sexual orientation and, most recently, the issue

of same-sex marriage (Tadlock and Taylor 2017), but far

less attention has been paid to issues related to gender

identity and the transgender community. Thus, it is diffi-

cult to ascertain whether high levels of support for non-

discrimination policies covering sexual orientation will

translate to new policies that provide protections based

on gender identity. If the public views the various sub-

groups of the LGBT community differently, this has

important implications for politics of LGBT rights.

This gap in our understanding about the different

groups under the LGBT umbrella prompts two research

questions: do Americans distinguish in their attitudes

between different segments of the LGBT community,

specifically between sexual orientation and gender iden-

tity? And if so, what factors drive individuals to evaluate

gays and lesbians differently from transgender people?1

Understanding any potential attitudinal differences held

by the public may have important implications given the

salience of LGBT rights in our politics and the increasing

prominence of transgender rights in policymaking (e.g.,

Taylor and Haider-Markel 2014).

We examine these questions with analyses of a nation-

ally representative survey on attitudes toward the LGBT

717352PRQXXX10.1177/1065912917717352Political Research QuarterlyLewis et al.

research-article2017

1Siena College, Loudonville, NY, USA

2Mills College, Oakland, CA, USA

3The University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA

4Ohio University, Athens, USA

5The University of Toledo, OH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Daniel C. Lewis, Siena College, 515 Loudon Rd., Loudonville, NY

12211, USA.

Email: dlewis@siena.edu

Degrees of Acceptance: Variation in

Public Attitudes toward Segments of

the LGBT Community

Daniel C. Lewis1, Andrew R. Flores2, Donald P. Haider-Markel3,

Patrick R. Miller3, Barry L. Tadlock4, and Jami K. Taylor5

Abstract

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community includes a diverse set of groups, including distinct groups

based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity, but it is not clear whether the public makes distinctions in their

attitudes toward these subgroups. If they do, what factors motivate individuals to evaluate gays and lesbians differently

from transgender people? This study analyzes Americans’ attitudes toward these communities, and it evaluates their

support for nondiscrimination protections. We find that public attitudes are significantly more negative toward

transgender people and policies pertaining to them than they are toward gay men and lesbians and related policies.

The analyses reveal that differences in these attitudes are associated with social contact effects, variation in cognitive

consistency, elite cues, and the varying magnitudes of key political factors, such as religiosity and partisanship.

Keywords

transgender, LGBT, public opinion, interpersonal contact, group affect