Do beliefs about sexual orientation predict voting behavior? Results from the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Abstract

Research has shown that beliefs about sexual orientation, including the naturalness, discreteness, and informativeness of sexual orientation categories, are associated with varying levels of sexual prejudice. Less is known about how these and other sexual orientation beliefs may correspond with broader social and political attitudes, including party affiliation and voting behavior. The present study explored voting intention and political party affiliation, as well as other constructs not directly associated with sexuality, among a sample of emerging adults (N ϭ 286) immediately prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Using a person-centered statistical approach, we replicated sexual orientation belief profiles found in prior research and observed significant associations between belief profiles and intentions to vote for certain candidates, as well as party affiliation, ambivalent sexist attitudes, and number of reported lesbian, gay, and bisexual friends. Notably, "born this way"-type beliefs in the innateness and immutability of sexual orientation did not significantly distinguish respondents' support for presidential candidates or political party affiliation. We situate these results within existing research on essentialist beliefs and point to implications of these findings for ongoing research, clinical work, and advocacy for sexual minority rights. Public Significance StatementThis research explores the relationships between what people believe sexual orientation is (e.g., the idea that sexual orientation is inborn) and their political attitudes. This work can inform how psychologists research and conduct advocacy for sexual minority rights.

What does transgender mean to you? Transgender definitions and attitudes toward trans people.

“…They suggested that the “born this way” narrative has become pervasive in society and may no longer be a good predictor of prejudice and discrimination against sexual minorities when examining political affiliation. Instead, other aspects of essentialism may be more predictive of sexual prejudice than naturalness, such as “homogeneity (sexual orientation group members are similar), discreteness (sexual orientation categories are distinct and nonoverlapping), and informativeness (sexual orientation tells you much about a person)” (Grzanka et al, 2020 p. 243). Future research should examine whether these other domains of essentialism may be better at predicting participant differences in trans prejudice than a belief that trans people are born with their gender identity.…”

“…In addition, except for nonheterosexual women, agreement that a person is born with their transgender identity predicted lower levels of trans prejudice which supports other research (Claman, 2007; Elischberger et al, 2018; Landén & Innala, 2000; Woodford et al, 2012). As indicated earlier, other domains of essentialism besides naturalness or innateness, for example, discreteness, informativeness, and homogeneity (Grzanka et al, 2020), should be examined to determine which are better predictors of trans prejudice.…”

“…Future investigations should examine whether additional themes are present in participants’ definitions and under what circumstances themes appear alone or with other themes, particularly if terms other than transgender are the focus of the study. For example, it would be interesting to investigate references to other aspects of gender essentialism in definitions, such as homogeneity, discreteness, and informativeness of gender groups (Grzanka et al, 2020).…”

“…Of the few studies found that assessed a belief that trans people are born with their gender identity or biological causes for a trans identity, none reported gender comparisons (Claman, 2007;Elischberger et al, 2018;Landén & Innala, 2000;Woodford et al, 2012). Grzanka et al (2020) found that regardless of political affiliation (e.g., Democrat, Republican, and Other) participants had similar beliefs about the naturalness or innateness of sexual orientation. They suggested that the "born this way" narrative has become pervasive in society and may no longer be a good predictor of prejudice and discrimination against sexual minorities when examining political affiliation.…”

Do Beliefs About Sexual Orientation Predict Sexual Identity Labeling Among Sexual Minorities?

“…A recent body of literature (Grzanka et al, 2016(Grzanka et al, , 2020Tierney et al, 2021) has used latent profile analysis to examine patterns of responses (among individual participants) on multiple factors of the SOBS. This type of analysis has demonstrated that certain belief factors can have distinct relationships to sexual minority attitudes and identity outcomes, dependent on the context in which they occur-and provide emerging evidence that certain constellations of SOBS are perhaps more informative of sexual minority attitudes than individual factors.…”