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The failure of homophobia scales to consider the normative assumptions of religious communities may result in findings that are less useful in addressing this problem. In this study, 155 undergraduate students at a Christian university were surveyed, separately assessing attitudes toward celibate versus sexually active homosexual men and women. Results of multiple regression analyses found that participants who emphasized a person-behavior distinction (an accepted tenet of conservative religious ideology) held more negative attitudes toward lesbian women than those who were comparatively more accepting and did not emphasize such a distinction. However, participants who emphasized the person-behavior distinction held more positive attitudes toward gay men than those who were comparatively more rejecting and did not emphasize such a distinction. These relationships were significant even after accounting for variance attributable to general measures of religious commitment. Attempts to reduce homophobia within conservative religious communities may benefit from a more sensitive approach to their belief systems.

These findings suggest that significant psychopathology can be found among bariatric patients, and highlight the importance of attending to impression management issues and anxiety spectrum disorders in presurgical psychological evaluations.

Sexual minorities raised in conservative religions often experience conflict between their sexual and religious identities that affects their well-being. Minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003) and cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957) offer different explanations for when, why, and how this conflict may affect well-being. Using an intersectional lens (Crenshaw, 1989), we examined how religiousness and beliefs about sexuality relate to well-being among 1,128 lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer (LGBQ) and same-sex attracted (SSA) Mormons and former Mormons recruited from both politically conservative and liberal circles to explore the competing explanations offered by these theories. Supporting cognitive dissonance theory, we found that confused religious views and sporadic church attendance were negatively related to well-being and that individuals with moderate religious viewpoints and either frequent or no church attendance reported more well-being. Feeling resolved about conflicts between religion and sexuality was also positively related to well-being. Supporting minority stress theory, we found that authentic expression of sexuality, openness about experiences of same-sex attraction, and feeling positive about being LGBQ/SSA were positively related to well-being. We did not find a relationship between beliefs about the etiology of same-sex attraction and well-being. These findings further nuance literature guided by minority stress theory that has found a negative association between religiousness and well-being among sexual minorities. We encourage future research to examine cognitive dissonance between religious/sexual identities as a moderating variable when examining the effects of religiousness on well-being among sexual minorities.