RSVP for LGBTQ Politicians and Elections talk by Dr. Gabriele Magni
"LGBTQ Politicians and Elections"
Dr. Gabriele Magni, Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount University
Thursday, March 25, 2021 CST (rescheduled from February 18, 2021 due to inclement weather)
Virtual talk and Q&A on LGBTQ politics
You will receive the link to attend prior to the event.
The number of openly LGBTQ candidates running for office has reached unprecedented numbers in recent years. A record number of candidates were elected to the US Congress in 2020, and the presidential primary of an openly gay man, Pete Buttigieg, caught fire far more than most observers predicted. In the same year, New Zealand elected the queerest parliament in the world, white the House of Commons in the UK has about 60 openly LGBTQ members. But do voters (still) penalize LGBTQ candidates? I present original survey experiments with nationally representative samples in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand. To varying degrees voters penalize LGBTQ candidates in all countries, with penalties strongest in the US. Yet, progressives, people with LGBTQ friends, and non-religious individuals do not discriminate against gays and lesbians, while transgender candidates face stronger bias. Electability concerns, prejudice, and identity cueing explain voter bias. This study contributes to the literature on minority candidates and disentangles correlated candidate attributes, exploring the intersectionality of bias. Understanding the barriers to the election of LGBT people is crucial to improve the representation of marginalized communities.