Religion, Contact, and Ambivalent Attitudes Toward the Rights of Gays and Lesbians in Barbados

Abstract

Over 70 countries in the world currently carry anti-gay laws, among which is Barbados, a small English-speaking Caribbean island. This study evaluates whether heterosexuals in Barbados are consistent or ambivalent in their attitudes towards anti-gay law reform and the extent to which competing messages from interpersonal contact and religion affect ambivalence. The analysis revealed that a majority of heterosexuals hold ambivalent attitudes about gay and lesbian rights. Moreover, results from a multinomial logistic regression imply that Barbadians whose views on sexuality were theologically based were less likely to support restrictions on same-sex intimacy when they have a close relationship with a gay man or lesbian. However, this decline in support for the laws brought about by meaningful contact did not translate to support for gay and lesbian rights among the religiously inclined. Rather, it manifested itself as a state of attitudinal ambivalence.

An alternative measure for attitudes toward bisexual people.

“…To illustrate, in the current study, the attitudinal items designed to evaluate various components and valences of attitudes loaded on a single factor, possibly because of a lack of ambivalent attitudes toward bisexual people on the sample. Nevertheless, it has been found that people high in religious fundamentalism and religious believers who have meaningful contacts with homosexuals tend to have ambivalent attitudes toward members from this sexual minority (Hoffarth & Hodson, 2014; Jackman, 2020). If this phenomenon of attitudinal ambivalence is also transferable to bisexual targets, then administering the attitudinal measure that I developed on religious samples may reveal two factors with a weakly or moderately negative correlation: one for positive attitudes, and one for negative attitudes.…”

Critical Influences on Responsible Tourism Behavior and the Mediating Role of Ambivalent Emotions

“…More importantly, scholars have reviewed the extant literature and concluded that studies which investigated the combined effects of mixed emotions are scant [59]. Specifically, few studies investigated the effects of ambivalence on behavioral intention [60], and current studies on ambivalence investigated the decisionmaking of family-run firms [61], green purchase intentions [60], human rights [62], reservations in luxury restaurants [63], mobile shopping carts [64], service experience [59], and teaching children with ADHD [65]. In other words, although a number of ambivalence studies have been conducted within the scope of business, education, service, sociology, and hospitality, there are few studies on ambivalence within the context of tourism and travel.…”

Barriers to the right to HIV prevention health care for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Barbados: an examination of anti-gay prejudice

“…Laws help to shape norms by prefiguring values, prejudices, and interests (van den Akker et al , 2012). The anti-gay laws in Barbados thus create the presumption that sexual minorities are criminals and serve to legitimise and strengthen prejudice against them (Jackman, 2020). These laws are also conducive to institutionalised homophobia.…”

“…This brings us to the first research question: what are current attitudes towards sexual minorities in Barbados and how have they changed over the years? While the maintenance of anti-gay laws in Barbados seems to suggest that sexual prejudice is still prevalent, in the past few years there has been increased visibility and activism in Barbados (Jackman, 2020), which the literature suggests could serve to alter anti-gay prejudice at the societal level. The second research question asks, which segments of the population are the most prejudiced?…”

“…Prior to 2015, there was very little work focused on understanding anti-gay prejudice in the Caribbean at the national level. More recently, some authors have sought to bridge the gap in Caribbean literature (Jackman, 2020;Griffith and Wickham, 2019;Beck et al, 2017;Jackman, 2017;Jackman, 2016;Griffith and Wickham, 2016;West and Cowell, 2015). However, these studies either consider general trends in anti-gay prejudice or the individual characteristics that predict anti-gay prejudice at a particular period.…”