More than four in 10 LGB Republicans suffer from internalised homophobia and wish they were straight
A Trump supporter holds a Gays for Trump placard in New Hampshire. (Preston Ehrler/SOPA Images/LightRocket/ Getty)
A new study has suggested that internalised homophobia is rife among LGB Republicans, with more than a third believing their sexual orientation is a “personal shortcoming”.
A new study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law used data from a five-year study on the health of LGB adults to look at “the relationship between sexual minorities and political identities”.
The study found that queer Republicans were less likely to say that they felt part of the LGBT+ community, less likely to be proud of the community and less likely to view participation in the community as a positive thing.
LGB Democrats were twice as likely as LGB Republicans to think it is important politically active within the LGBT+ community.
While most LGB Democrats and Republicans reported that they were out to those around them, 38 percent of the Republicans in the study said they viewed their sexual orientation as a “personal shortcoming”.
On top of this, 41 percent said they wished they were completely heterosexual.
Despite repeated calls from the Republican party to allow discrimination against LGBT+ people in the name of “religious freedom”, 65 percent of LGB Republicans in the survey agreed with the statement: “Most people where I live think less of an LGB person.”
The study’s lead author Ilan H Meyer, distinguished senior scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute, said: “There is a common belief that LGBT+ identity and Republican affiliation are incompatible.
“Although they represent a small minority, some LGB people are affiliated as Republicans. However, it is striking to find how much they differ from sexual minority Democrats in terms of their connections with LGBT communities.”
Despite an outbreak of “Gays for Trump” and “Trump Pride” events in the final few weeks before the presidential election, Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has published no policies whatsoever on LGBT+ issues.
During his presidency, Trump has so far attacked the LGBT+ community 181 times, according to GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Project, during the 1377 days he has held office.
His administration banned transgender people from serving in the military, actively supported discrimination against LGBT+ people in employment, services and healthcare and erased LGBT+ resources, data and language from government websites.
In June, Trump’s Republican Party announced that it would be leaving its 2016 party platform unchanged, meaning that the GOP will continue to officially support the reversal of marriage equality.
