Predictors of Sexual Prejudice: Religious Beliefs, Political Ideology, Gender, and Contact

In recent years, the issues of homosexuality and gay rights have sparked a lot of controversy. Some people support gay rights and have positive attitudes toward gay men and lesbians whereas others condemn homosexuality and oppose giving gay people the rights that heterosexuals take for granted. Many opponents cite their religious or political beliefs as arguments for their attitudes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of components of religiosity, political ideology, gender and contact with attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. In this study, we looked to build on previous research and examine more detailed and substantive aspects of political and religious beliefs and contact with gay men and lesbians. The results show that not all components of religiosity and political ideology are good predictors of attitudes toward gay males and females. Contact with homosexuals is a good predictor only for gay men targets but not for lesbians. These findings also demonstrate that simple categorical measures or measures of overall religiosity and political ideology may not be adequate to fully capture these two concepts.