Out, proud, and resilient: effects of sexual identity labels on perceptions of sexual minorities

Abstract

ABSTRACT Labelling oneself as a sexual minority and sharing that identity with others often represents a significant and intentional process for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, as most individuals are assumed to be heterosexual. However, little previous research has explored the effects of sexual identity labels on perceptions of LGB individuals. Undergraduate students from a large public university (N = 661) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: explicit labels (e.g. John is gay), implicit labels (e.g. John is attracted to men), or no labels (e.g. John works at a pizza place). Participants in each condition read short vignettes describing characters that were assigned explicit labels, implicit labels, or no labels. After reading each vignette, they rated characters on 19 traits, including negative, positive, and control traits. Explicit and implicit labels generally increased ratings on positive traits (e.g. ‘proud’, ‘resilient’, and ‘fun’) in comparison to control characters with no sexual identity labels. In contrast, there were few effects of the label manipulation on ratings of negative traits (e.g. ‘attention-seeking’, ‘unreliable’, and ‘immoral’). These results suggest that in some contexts (liberal university), openly disclosing one’s sexual identity explicitly or implicitly may enhance positive perceptions from others.