Using surveys and interviews with Mississippi Christians, this study provides a more complete understanding of Christians’ beliefs and attitudes toward homosexuality and gay and lesbian civil rights. I analyze how Mississippi Christians make sense of their relationships with gay and lesbian friends and family members and how this differs based on their religious identity. I then consider how these beliefs and attitudes are influenced by social contact with gays and lesbians. I find Mississippi Christians’ views toward homosexuality and gay and lesbian civil rights vary widely from rejection to acceptance. The most conservative views are held by evangelical Protestants who set themselves apart from society through their beliefs about homosexuality. They feel that homosexuality is always sinful and describe almost complete opposition to gay and lesbian civil rights. On the contrary, mainline Protestants continue to move towards full assimilation with secular society. Many believe the Bible does not say anything about homosexuality and that the church should be accepting of gays and lesbians. Mainline Protestants also largely support gay and lesbian civil rights. Catholics fall in the middle of the continuum. They describe a greater degree of ambivalence about the sinfulness of homosexuality and describe conditional acceptance of gay and lesbian civil rights. Social contact with gays and lesbians did not influence evangelical Protestants beliefs and attitudes toward homosexuality or gay and lesbian civil rights. Similarly, conservative Catholics continued to hold on to their more conservative religious beliefs about homosexuality despite social contact. Conservative Christians’ subcultural identity which stands in opposition to homosexuality is stronger than the effects of social contact for evangelical Protestants and conservative Catholics. On the other hand, social contact is often a strong enough influence to change beliefs and attitudes toward homosexuality and gay and lesbian civil rights for mainline Protestants and more liberal Catholics. This study demonstrates that conservative religion acts as a negative feature that deters the positive benefits of social contact to overcome prejudice.

Based on a sample of 814 university students, pro- and anti-same-sex marriage and polygamous marriage groups were established based on students scoring >1 SD above (n = 145; n = 132, respectively) and > 1 SD below the group mean (n = 127; n = 126) on the Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage Scale (ATSSM: Pearl & Paz-Galupo, 2007) and Attitudes Toward Polygamy Scale, which was generated by modifying the ATSSM (ATPM). Compared to pro-same-sex marriage students, anti-same-sex marriage students were significantly more prejudiced against gays and lesbians, authoritarian, religious, and politically conservative. Anti-same-sex marriage students also had less contact with and appreciation for diverse cultural groups, more desire to dominate out-groups, were less autonomous in their thinking, and were more likely to be men. Anti-polygamous students were more strongly opposed same-sex marriage, idealized the traditional family, authoritarian, religious, less autonomous in their thinking, desire to dominate minority groups, and were more likely to be female compared to those who were propolygamous marriage. Results further indicated that, polygamy and same-sex marriage are predicted by different variables, with same-sex marriage being more strongly tied to prejudice against gays and lesbians and polygamous marriage being more strongly tied to beliefs about the inherent morality of conventions surrounding the traditional family. A regression analysis using data from all 814 students yielded almost identical results with regards to identifying variables most predictive of ATSSM. Followup analyses revealed that prejudice against gays and lesbians was the single best predictor of opposition to same-sex marriage and even accounted for the associations between opposition to same-sex marriage and religiosity, political conservatism, and support of traditional marriage and family. With respect to polygamy, data from regression analyses revealed that ATSSM was the best predictor of ATPM. Despite the cultural focus on this variable, however, controlling for ATSSM did not reduce the predictive power of critical variables to a non-significant level. Recommendations for challenging opposition to marriage equality are discussed.

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Families of all kinds are faced with increasing information regarding sexual orientation. As lesbians and gay men become more visible as parents, partners, and members of families, it is likely that any given person will know a lesbian, gay, or bisexual family member, co-worker, or friend. Understanding diversity in sexual orientation is not only a task for lesbians and gay men. While maintaining friend, family, and professional relationships, heterosexuals and their families are also becoming more aware of sexual orientation diversity. This research was guided by ecological and narrative perspectives. An ecological view provides a framework for examining families within interacting systems. The narrative approach provides an organization for episodes, actions, and meanings. Families are surrounded by systems that view human behavior through the lens of heterosexual experience. This lens promotes and assigns power to the assumption that people are and should be heterosexual. Five research questions guided the study: (1) What is the content and meaning of family conversations about sexual orientation? (b) How do parents attempt to answer children's questions or inform them about the topic of sexual orientation? (c) How does gender organize family conversations about sexual orientation? (d) What other factors influence parents' attitudes about sexual orientation? (e) What values do parents want their children to have regarding sexual orientation? I conducted conjoint qualitative interviews with 20 heterosexually married parents (10 couples) who reported engaging in conversations with their children (ages 5 to 16) about sexual orientation while promoting a climate of acceptance about sexual orientation diversity. Children wondered mainly about marriage rules and coupleness. Parents reported answering questions honestly and extending conversation when possible. In 7 families, both parents reported that mothers talked to the children more about social topics such as sexual orientation. All parents said their attitudes were most influenced by knowing lesbian or gay people. Despite having heard derogatory statements about gays and lesbians in their families of origin, parents reported changing their attitudes to fit their knowledge of real lesbian or gay people. Parents wanted their children to be "accepting," "respectful," "responsible," "tolerant," "open-minded," and "fair." / Ph. D.

This research posed the question "How does racism in the gay community and homophobia in the Black community restrict gay Black male's life chances and life opportunities?" Previous research has uncovered racist attitudes within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community as well as homophobic attitudes within the Black community. Because of conflicting social identifiers (Is it possible for one to be both homosexual and Black?) and the invisibility of a gay Black voice, it is imperative to deconstruct the relationship between gay Black men and the communities they are a part of. I utilized qualitative in-depth interviewing techniques interviewing 15 Black men aged 18 and older who identified themselves as homosexual. The questions revolved around three primary questions designed to center the researcherâ ¦How do gay Black men describe their lives, How do gay Black men describe what their lives ought to be, and What obstacles do gay Black men see effecting their opportunity to live the lives they feel they ought to be living. The gay Black male research participants disclosed that because of Black stereotypes, gay stereotypes, acceptance with stipulations in the gay community and the black community, racism in the gay community, homophobia in the Black community, and perceptions of blackness and masculinity's affect on gay Black menâ ¦gay Black men live their lives with various restrictions. In other words, gay Black men do not appear to be living their lives the way they feel they ought to be living it. This work is important because a majority of the participants stated they wished to live restriction free lives. They are not able to fully be themselves in their daily lives and often have to assimilate to be accepted. / Master of Science

This study focuses on a group of homosexual men. The group has been defined as 'Queer' based on the value and pride which they place on their difference to the general norms and values of the wider society. Four of these men were interviewed on their moral structure and the way in which they structure their relationships. The study focused on: the nature of the norms this group has developed; the process by which this has occurred; and the psychological effects of this process. It was found that the research participants have developed new norms and behavioural scripts significantly different to those existing generally in society. These new behavioural scripts relate to the socially mandated scripts in various ways with some mandated scripts being rejected, some being adapted and amended and others being inverted. These differences seem to originate from individuals being rejected and stigmatised. The changes these queer men have made were moves to bring a greater sense of congruence between their experience, their morality and their behavioural scripts. The initial period of divergence between the socially mandated behavioural scripts and their sexual behaviour was marked by psychological distress while the move to greater congruence between behaviour and behavioural scripts was characterised by increased psychological empowerment and sense of self-worth. The study also showed that during these processes other differences developed between the way these individuals act in their world and the general norm of society. These differences included a greater self-awareness; an increased ability to operate at a meta-level; a conscious effort to create the life that one wants; differences in gender behaviour which incorporated behavioural aspects of both genders and new forms of establishing and maintaining relationships. Homosexuality is an historic opportunity to open up new relational and affective potentialities, not in virtue of qualities intrinsic to the homosexual, but because of the position of the homosexual 'offcenter', somehow, together with the diagonal lines which the homosexual can draw through the social fabric, makes it possible to bring to light these potentialities - a famous homosexual Queer (M. Foucault) / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

published_or_final_version / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This study investigates the relationship between an individual's attitude toward gay men and lesbians and their identity development. The sample included 440 undergraduates from a university in the northeast Texas area. Many, if not all, of the factors that are associated with negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians (i.e., restrictive gender-role attitudes, high levels of authoritarianism, perceptions of negative attitudes toward homosexuals within their peer group, little or no contact with homosexuals, and conservative religious ideologies) have a logical relation to identity development. Furthermore, the various functions that attitudes toward gays and lesbians can serve (e.g., value-expression, group membership) were hypothesized to be especially attractive for persons in specific identity statuses. Thus, the case was made that identity development may be a valuable framework in which to understand attitudes toward gays and lesbians. In the current study, attitudes toward gays and lesbians were related to identity development, though the relationship is complex. When comparing persons who were higher and lower on absolutism, attitude toward gays and lesbians were most similar in achieved identity groups, while those who were foreclosed were the most disparate. In the interaction between identity, absolutism and gender role stereotyping, some groups utilized their attitude to express values more than other groups. Clinical implications as well as limitations of the study are discussed.

In recent history, the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) persons have been in constant fluctuation. Many states criminalize homosexual behavior while other states legally recognize same-sex marriages and same-sex adoptions. There are also irregular patterns where LGBT interest groups form across the globe. With this research project, I begin to explain why these discrepancies in the treatment of homosexuality and the formation of LGBT interest groups occur. I develop a theory that the most obvious contrast across the globe occurs when analyzing the treatment of homosexuals in OECD member states versus non-OECD countries. OECD nations tend to see the gay community struggle for more advanced civil rights and government protections, while non-OECD states have to worry about fundamental human rights to life and liberty. I find that this specific dichotomization is what causes the irregular LGBT interest group formation pattern across the globe; non-OECD nations tend to have fewer LGBT interest groups than their OECD counterparts. When looking at why non-OECD nations and OECD nations suppress the rights of their gay citizens, I find that religion plays a critical role in the suppression of the gay community. In this analysis, I measure religion several different ways, including the institution of an official state religion as well as the levels of religiosity within a nation. Regardless of how this variable is manipulated and measured, statistical analysis continuously shows that religion’s influence is the single most significant factor in leading to a decrease in both human and civil rights for gays and lesbians across the globe. Further analysis indicates that Judaism plays the most significant role out the three major world religions in the suppression of civil rights for homosexuals in OECD nations.

M.Com. (Industrial Psychology) / In line with recent media reports, it is apparent that homosexual individuals are treated unfairly in a variety of contexts. Yet, little is known regarding the discrimination of homosexual employees in the South African workplace. The objective of this study was to examine the nature of discriminatory experiences of South African homosexual employees. In this study a qualitative approach was used with hermeneutic phenomenology as the method of data analysis. Data were collected through the means of semi-structured interviews with ten homosexual employees from various industries within the Gauteng province. The findings suggest that homosexual individuals do experience discrimination at work and that the experiences of discrimination at work are slightly different for gay employees than for lesbian employees. Three themes generated for gay employees (workplace bullying, the use of prejudice and stereotypes, and problems with people management practices, policies and procedures), while four themes were generated for lesbian employees (workplace bullying, the use of prejudice and stereotypes, problems with people management practices, policies and procedures, and sexual harassment). The contributions of the study will be to provide much needed awareness and understanding of workplace discrimination against homosexual employees. It is hoped that the findings of this research will lead to a re-examination of human resource practices and policies regarding diversity training and anti-discrimination.