Premium
2 > 1 + 1? The Impact of Contact with Gay and Lesbian Couples on Attitudes about Gays/Lesbians and Gay‐Related Policies
Author(s) -
BARTH JAY,
PARRY JANINE
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 1555-5623
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2007.00160.x
Subject(s) - lesbian , transgender , gender studies , homosexuality , psychology , contact hypothesis , contact theory , general partnership , social psychology , prejudice (legal term) , sociology , political science , law , structural engineering , engineering
Contact with individual lesbians and gay men leads to more positive evaluations of the group and more support for pro‐LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) public policies. Increasingly, gay rights activists are making “gay families” central to their communications to the public about gay issues and policies. This prompts a new question in the area of contact theory: does contact with same‐sex couples have a different impact on attitudes about gays/lesbians and gay‐related public policies than contact with gay/lesbian individuals? On general attitudes, the two versions of contact perform similarly, but in specific policies, divergence shows itself. Contact with couples is a stronger force in shaping support for expansion of same‐sex partnership recognition. However, while contact with individual gay men and lesbians is a significant indicator, contact with couples is not on other issues raising questions about the effectiveness of the focus on “gay families” for the broader goals of the contemporary LGBT movement.