A Rainbow Wave? LGBTQ Liberal Political Perspectives During Trump’s Presidency: an Exploration of Sexual, Gender, and Queer Identity Gaps

Abstract

Negativity toward LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, genderqueer/non-binary, asexual, and queer) people and rights during Trump’s presidency ushered in a “rainbow wave” of LGBTQ voters. Yet the particulars of LGBTQ political perspectives remain underexplored. The current study examines sexual, gender, and queer identity gaps in liberalism among a nationally representative sample of US adults aged 18+ stratified by US census categories of age, gender, ethnicity, and census region (N = 3104; LGBTQ non-heterosexual: n = 1555) collected from Survey Sampling International (SSI) online panelists in the weeks after the November 2018 polls. Specifically, sexual identity (heterosexual, lesbian/gay, bisexual, pansexual, and asexual), gender identity (cis man, cis woman, trans man, trans woman, and non-binary), and queer identity are explored as they relate to liberal perspectives (liberal ideology; law/policy support of those in poverty, racial/ethnic minorities, immigrants, and women; feminist identity). Building from Worthen’s (2018) social justice/empathic concern theoretical framework, liberal perspectives among LGBTQ people were theorized as constructed from personal experiences with stigma and empathic concern for other stigmatized people. Findings demonstrate tensions between trans individuals and liberalism while also confirming lesbian/gay liberalism and illuminating three additional groups of liberals in the LGBTQ community: pansexual, non-binary, and queer individuals. Together, these patterns support the existence of “luminous lavender liberalism” among the political perspectives of LGBTQ people.