“Gay” or “Homosexual”? The Implications of Social Category Labels for the Structure of Mass Attitudes

Abstract

Multiple identity and identification terms are used in social science research on sexuality, including clinical terms such as “homosexual” and “heterosexual” and more colloquial terms such as “gay” and “straight.” In this article, we show that far from being synonyms, these terms have consequences for attitudes about gay and lesbian rights. We begin by providing a historical overview of the terms “homosexual” and “gay and lesbian,” showing the different connotations that social groups have come to associate with these terms. We then analyze a split-ballot experiment embedded in the 2012 American National Election Study (ANES) and show that group identity and authoritarianism shape attitudes toward “homosexual” rights differently than “gay and lesbian” rights.

Person-positivity bias, social category labels, and attitudes toward gays and lesbians

“…Terminology does not fully explain attitude variation. Consistent with previous research (Smith et al, 2017;Crawford et al, 2016), authoritarianism, evangelical identity, and social distance, as well as Republican partisanship and conservative ideology, have a large, significantly negative association with attitudes -regardless of terminology.…”

“…Are people more supportive of “gays and lesbians” than “homosexuals” and “homosexuality”? Previous research compares opinion toward attitude objects that use the colloquial “gays and lesbians” social category label versus a clinical term, “homosexuals.” Scholars have argued that elites may strategically choose clinical terminology in rhetoric to prime negative beliefs about sexual minorities (Smith et al, 2017). In this study, I build on existing research to incorporate another choice elites make – to use terms that describe people or the sexuality of a person.…”

The Evolution of Attitudes on Same‐Sex Marriage in the United States, 1988–2014

“…Missing data reduced the overall N by 22 percent. As noted in footnote 2, the differential use of the phrases, “homosexual” and “gays and lesbians” may slightly overestimate the effect of change between the 1988 and 2003–2014 comparison, although this effect may be limited to a small subset of the sample (Smith et al., ).…”

“…Smith et al. () note that the use of “homosexual” has stronger negative effects for authoritarian personalities who describe themselves as born again or who have had no contact with gays and lesbians, whereas that negative effect does not appear when “gays and lesbians” is used instead. Comparing the 1988 GSS, which uses “homosexual,” and the Pew surveys, which use “gays and lesbians,” may slightly exaggerate the effect of change between the two sets of surveys, although Smith et al.…”

A Review of Compensatory Strategies to Mitigate Bias

“…As a final example, an attorney introducing her husband to her firm's partners might say, "he's an administrative assistant" rather than "he's a secretary" when asked what he does. Despite the fact that social identity labels can be interchangeable, SCL switching can mitigate bias because research has revealed that stereotypes that are associated with synonymous labels can vary in significant ways (Crawford, Brandt, Inbar, & Mallinas, 2015;Hall, Phillips, & Townsend, 2015;Rios, 2013;Smith, Murib, Motta, Callaghan, & Theys, 2017). Because the labels Personnel Assessment And decisions comPensAtory strAtegies to mitigAte BiAs sound differently, they can activate different stereotypes, which could lead to different attributions (Koch, Luft, & Kruse, 2005;Vakoch & Wurm, 1997;Wurm & Vakoch, 1996).…”