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Respectability Politics and Straight Support for LGB Rights PRQXXX10.1177/10659129211035834Political Research QuarterlyJones 1035834research-article2021 Race and Identity Political Research Quarterly 1 –15 Respectability Politics and Straight © 2021 University of Utah Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions Support for LGB Rights DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129211035834 10.1177/10659129211035834 journals.sagepub.com/home/prq Philip Edward Jones1 Abstract Marginalized groups frequently adopt a respectability politics strategy, presenting themselves as adhering to dominant norms to gain public support. The LGBTQ movement, for example, has consciously portrayed same- gender relationships as exemplifying heteronormative values to win over straight Americans. But how effective is this strategy? Two survey experiments show that presenting LGB people as adhering to, or violating, norms of monogamy and exclusivity has null to minimal effects on straight respondents’ views of them or support for their rights. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the effects are moderated by (1) respondents’ political predispositions; or (2) the race, ethnicity, or gender of the LGB people being highlighted. Emphasizing the respectability of same- gender relationships is not as effective as the movement has assumed. More broadly, these results call into question the assumption that highlighting “respectable” members of marginalized groups is an effective way to change public opinion. Keywords respectability politics, LGB rights, public opinion In mass democracies, marginalized communities must of “stability, commitment, and family” (Carpenter 2012, typically find ways to appeal to majority opinion to secure 188, 193). Communication memos encouraged the use their rights. One common strategy is respectability poli- of words like “long-term, lifelong, stable, permanent” to tics, whereby groups portray themselves as adhering to portray same-gender relationships as similar to straight mainstream norms of “proper” behavior. The hope is that ones (Freedom to Marry 2010; Harrison and Michelson dominant groups will then come to perceive similarities 2017b). And groups scoured the country for “perfect with marginalized people and view them as deserving of plaintiffs” and media figureheads whose relationships equal rights (Harris 2014; Higginbotham 1993; Kennedy exemplified these norms (Godsoe 2015; O’Neill 2018; 2015; Strolovitch and Crowder 2018). As such, move- Robinson and Frost 2018). ments representing stigmatized groups frequently choose This approach has had non-trivial costs for the LGBTQ to highlight their most respectable members and empha- community. It sidelined those members who would not or size how they exemplify dominant values (see, for exam- could not present themselves in respectable ways (Cohen ple, Fackler 2016; Miller 2004; Sharpless 2016). 1997; Murib 2018), casting “other forms of gay identity This has certainly been the strategy adopted by the (not being part of a monogamous, married, child-rearing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) couple) to the margins” (Moscowitz 2013, 133, italics in movement over the past several decades.1 To try and win original). It further stigmatized those whose relation- support from straight Americans, advocacy groups con- ships were deemed less than proper, as declaring one sciously portrayed LGBTQ people as adhering to domi- segment of the community respectable implicitly casts nant heteronormative values. While respectability can judgment on others (Cohen 1999). And the interests of take many forms, the movement has particularly focused on relationship norms of exclusivity and monogamy 1University of Delaware, Newark, USA (Beam 2018; Hindman 2019; Hunter 2017; Levit 2010; Moscowitz 2013; Pascar 2018; Woodly 2015). Activists Corresponding Author: Philip Edward Jones, Department of Political Science and International sought to “drive home the message that gay people are Relations, University of Delaware, 347 Smith Hall, Newark, DE essentially just like everybody else” by emphasizing 19716, USA. how their relationships fit “traditional American values” Email: [email protected] 2 Political Research Quarterly 00(0) those relatively disadvantaged community members got Respectability Politics overlooked as strategists focused on the “good gays” whose relationships would be seen as “normal” by straight The terminology of “the politics of respectability” was America (Beam 2018; Levit 2010; Strolovitch and first coined by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham in her study Crowder 2018). The costs of these respectability appeals of the women’s movement within the Progressive Era have been significant. Black Baptist Church (Higginbotham 1993). Believing What of the benefits? Research on public opinion that “‘proper’ and ‘respectable’ behavior proved blacks toward LGBTQ rights has flourished in recent years, worthy of equal civil and political rights” (Higginbotham highlighting the importance of interpersonal contact (e.g., 1993, 203) and hoping to “earn their people a measure of G. B. Lewis 2011), endorsements from in-group mem- esteem from white America” (Higginbotham 1993, 14), bers (e.g., Harrison and Michelson 2017a), media expo- movement leaders policed the community’s behavior to sure (e.g., Garretson 2015), and core values (e.g., Jones ensure “blacks’ conformity to the dominant society’s et al. 2018), among other factors. But despite it being a norms of manners and morals” (Higginbotham 1993, core strategy of the modern movement, there is no 187). research that directly assesses the effectiveness of por- More generally, respectability politics is rooted in the traying LGBTQ people as respectable in this way. Does “conviction that marginalized groups must demonstrate emphasizing how same-gender relationships adhere to that they adhere to normative values before they will heteronormative values actually improve straight peo- be accepted or granted rights by dominant groups” ple’s attitudes toward them and their rights? (Strolovitch and Crowder 2018, 340; see also Lopez To answer this question, I designed two survey experi- Bunyasi and Smith 2019; Cohen 1999; Harris 2014; ments that manipulated the portrayal of LGB people in a Kennedy 2015). As Lopez Bunyasi and Smith (2019, news story. Straight respondents were shown articles that 185) put it in the context of modern Black respectability described a (fictitious) legal dispute involving LGB politics, the assumption is “that if Blacks assimilate and rights, with the plaintiff’s relationship depicted as either behave more like Whites, equal treatment will follow.” aligning with, or violating, norms of monogamy and This assumption is particularly prevalent in contexts of exclusivity. Contrary to the expectations of respectability what Cohen (1999) calls “advanced marginalization,” politics, the type of relationship had almost no effect on when dominant groups at least superficially adopt rheto- attitudes. ric of greater inclusion, but marginalized groups are inter- In Study 1, respondents were shown a story about a nally stratified and only “those who demonstrate gay man denied service by a business because of his adherence to dominant norms of work, love, and social sexual orientation. Feelings of similarity with him, sup- interaction” are granted rights (Cohen 1999, 64). Facing port for his case, and attitudes toward LGB rights more such constraints, group leaders frequently turn to empha- broadly were unaffected by whether he was portrayed as sizing respectability, hoping that they will be seen as in a two-person relationship or an open three-person similar to, and thus worthy of the same rights as, those in relationship. Study 2 extends this to a more sensitive the dominant majority. context, featuring a story about a teacher fired for reveal- As a result, groups are particularly strategic about ing their sexual orientation to their students. Attitudes which members they highlight in public appeals. Perhaps were again unaffected by the teacher being in a commit- the most famous example is of Rosa Parks, selected by ted relationship, although there are some marginally leaders in the Civil Rights Movement as the face of the positive but inconsistent effects of describing the rela- Montgomery bus boycott. Other Black women had been tionship as monogamous. Throughout, there is no evi- arrested for refusing to give up their seats prior to Parks. dence that these minimal-to-null effects are moderated However, movement leaders deemed them insufficiently by respondents’ predispositions (in Study 1) or other respectable and thus unlikely to appeal to White audi- characteristics of the LGB people being foregrounded ences: Claudette Colvin was unmarried and allegedly (in Study 2). pregnant; Mary Louise Smith had an alcoholic father and Overall, highlighting those same-gender relationships came from an untidy home (Adler 2009; Fackler 2016; that conform to “respectable” values of monogamy and Kennedy 2015). Instead, movement leaders settled on exclusivity does not substantially improve straight atti- Parks, “a respectable woman who adhered to the ideals of tudes. More broadly, these results call into question the White middle-class femininity” (Fackler 2016, 274), efficacy of respectability politics for marginalized groups believing that Whites would empathize with her and shift seeking to win over public opinion. I begin by discussing their racial attitudes. the general strategy of respectability politics, before turn- Direct tests of this respectability politics strategy are ing to its specific
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