Exposure to the Lives of Lesbians and Gays and the Origin of Young People’s Greater Support for Gay Rights

Abstract

Support for the rights of lesbians and gays has increased swiftly since the early 1990s (Baunach, 2012; Brewer, 2008; Loftus, 2001). For instance, the Gallup poll found in July of 2013 that 52% of individuals in the United States would vote to legalize samesex marriage nationwide (Gallup, 2013). Younger Americans have been much quicker to embrace gay rights than older Americans. This relative liberalism of young people on homosexuality occurs despite the general tendency of young people to have similar attitudes to prior generations on most issues (MacManus, 1996). Many explanations have been put forward for this attitudinal shift in the mass public. Two of the most prominent explanations are (1) increases in interpersonal contact with lesbians and gays (Altemeyer, 2001; Dyck & Pearson-Merkowitz, 2014; Herek, 2003; Skipworth, Garner, & Dettrey, 2010) and (2) increases in exposure to lesbians and gays through parasocial (or mediated) contact (Riggle, Ellis, & Crawford, 1996; Mazur & Emmers-Sommer, 2002; Schiappa, Gregg, & Hewes, 2006; Tucker & Potocky-Tripodi, 2006). As Figure 1 illustrates, both of these types of exposure to lesbians and gays have trended upward over the past two decades. Could these increases in exposure also be responsible for the distinctive cohort effects on gay rights? To answer this question, I use a natural experiment on the 1994, 1995, and 1996 American National Election Study panel (ANES). Specifically, I theorize that increases in exposure to the lives of lesbians and gays—including fictional characters—act directly on the automatic impressions and feelings that people form involving lesbians and gays as a group. Past studies have shown that these feelings