Moral Foundations, Sexual Prejudice, and Outness Among Sexual Minorities

Abstract

Recent decades have seen greater acceptance of sexual minorities and greater legal recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S. However, sexual minorities still experience sexual prejudice in their everyday lives and often internalize these negative attitudes. Among heterosexuals, sexual prejudice has been linked with moral foundations, which are individual differences in moral decision-making. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether, among college students identifying as a sexual minority (N = 176), individualizing and binding moral foundations were associated with sexual prejudice, internalized sexual prejudice, and outness. Sexual prejudice and internalized sexual prejudice were associated with greater emphasis on the binding moral foundations and less emphasis on the individualizing moral foundations. Outness was not associated with moral foundations. These results suggest that sexual minorities’ moral decision-making may play a role in their feelings about their own sexual orientation and the LGB community, but not in the disclosure of their sexual orientation. Efforts to reduce internalized sexual prejudice may need to consider individuals’ deeper underlying moral decision-making framework.