Abstract
This study is a survey of incoming freshmen at a Midwestern Catholic university on their agreement with Church teachings on homosexuality. In general, females had more homo-positive attitudes than males, graduates of Catholic high schools had more homo-positive attitudes than graduates from non-Catholic high schools, and graduates from coeducational Catholic high schools had more homo-positive attitudes than graduates from unisex Catholic high schools. Also, if respondents agreed with the Church’s teaching against homosexual activity and that homosexuality is a disorder, they were less likely to agree with the Church’s teachings that gay and lesbian people have rights that the Church should protect.
Highlights
This study is a survey of incoming freshmen at a Midwestern Catholic university on their agreement with Church teachings on homosexuality
Studies have shown that the AIDS epidemic increased homophobia in the American public in the 1980s, and that homophobia is related to attitudes toward people with AIDS (Ellis, 1989; McClerren, 1992; McDevitt, 1987; Reynolds, 1989; Russell & Ellis, 1993; Walters, 1990)
What are we teaching our students? Some may be proud that Catholic high school students appear to be less homophobic than students in non-Catholic high schools
Summary
This study is a survey of incoming freshmen at a Midwestern Catholic university on their agreement with Church teachings on homosexuality. The purpose of this article is to report the results of a survey study conducted at a Midwestern Catholic university in 1995 with a gay and lesbian student organization. The student organization was interested in discovering the attitudes of incoming freshmen on the topic of homosexuality, and the study served broader research purposes. While the term has become widely used, researchers have questioned if it can be applied universally to all negative attitudes toward homosexuality and gay and lesbian people (LaSalle, 1992; Plasek & Allard, 1985; Sepekoff, 1985). Friend (1993) defined the term as “the fear and hatred of homosexuality in one’s self and in others” The Barna Research Group (2001) found that Born Again Christians were more conservative than mainline Protestants in their attitudes toward homosexuality, and that Evangelical Christians were by far more conservative than either group
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