The Relevance Of Studying Lgbtq People For Political Science

The study of LGBTQ people and politics is important to examine. Prior research suggests that the LGBTQ category is important and often overlooked in the study of political opinions (Jones Reference Jones2021). More broadly, LGBTQ people provide ample opportunity to examine political phenomena in the United States and across the globe (Ayoub Reference Ayoub2022). Whereas substantial research has been devoted to studying the opinions of the general public about LGBTQ people and their rights, seldom are the political behaviors of LGBTQ people examined.

Yet, LGBTQ politics can be vital to understanding central questions of political science and power (for AIDS, see Sherrill, Somerville, and Bailey Reference Sherrill, Somerville and Bailey1992). For example, LGBTQ activists have staged some of the most dramatic and successful political demonstrations (for AIDS activism, see Andersen and Jennings Reference Andersen and Jennings2010; Jennings and Andersen Reference Jennings and Andersen2003). The massive shift in American attitudes about gay rights remains perplexing (but see Garretson Reference Garretson2018), and the 2020s backlash against transgender people and their rights has mobilized social conservatives in a new “culture war” (Castle Reference Castle2019).

Furthermore, a growing percentage of adults identify as LGBTQ, particularly among young people (Flores and Conron Reference Flores and Conron2023). LGBTQ voters remain a solid voting bloc for the Democratic Party; exit polls suggest that there would have been much tighter election outcomes had LGBTQ voters stayed home (Flores Reference Flores2022). At the same time, LGBTQ people are incredibly diverse, cutting across socioeconomic strata, age, race and ethnicity, religion, location, socialization, and differences in social stigma across LGBTQ subgroups. This mystery of unity in diversity deserves more attention. Whereas the lack of attention may be related to stigma within the political and social sciences (Ayoub Reference Ayoub2022), it also is related to the dearth of quality data on LGBTQ people.

Complications Of Collecting Survey Data About Lgbtq People

LGBTQ people are hard-to-reach populations due to them comprising about 8% to 9% of the adult population and the lack of US Census data that provides a sampling frame and weighting targets. This results in the inability to understand the probability of selection or post-stratification weighting commonly used to present representative statistics. Additionally, the language around queer identities may fluctuate, potentially complicating established best practices about measuring sexual orientation and gender identity (Bates, Chin, and Becker Reference Bates, Chin and Becker2022). Furthermore, survey modes and sponsors may affect the propensity for individuals to disclose their sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) (Bates, Chin, and Becker Reference Bates, Chin and Becker2022).

One way to overcome these challenges is to add SOGI questions to large-N population-based studies, where a sizeable subsample of LGBTQ people can be collected. Indeed, this is how the Gallup Organization produces estimates of the growing percentage of LGBTQ-identified people from its tracking surveys throughout the entire year. Much of existing SOGI data is found in health surveys (Flores and Conron Reference Flores and Conron2023) and in studies of violence (Flores et al. Reference Flores, Langton, Meyer and Romero2020). The US Census Bureau (2024) currently is proposing the testing of SOGI measures for the American Community Survey. The Cooperative Election Survey and the CMPS provide other sources to use SOGI measures and to obtain political data comparable to non-LGBTQ people.

Findings From The 2020 CMPS

Through a process of working with collaborators—Patrick Egan, Zein Murib, Julie Moreau, Andrew Proctor, and Dara Strolovitch—we considered how to best conceptualize and operationalize LGBTQ people for the 2020 CMPS. Through thoughtful discussion, we concluded that identification is the dimension of SOGI that best suited our purposes.Footnote ¹ Self-identification as LGBTQ is a politically relevant category (Armstrong Reference Armstrong2002; Jones Reference Jones2021). For sexual orientation, we asked: “Which of the following best represents how you think of yourself?” Response options were “Straight, that is, not gay or lesbian”; “gay or lesbian”; “bisexual”; “something else”; and “I don’t know what this question means.” For gender, we asked: “What is your gender?” Response options were “man,” “woman,” “non-binary,” and “something else.” The “something else” option allowed respondents to write-in their own option. For transgender status, we asked: “Some people describe themselves as transgender when they experience a different gender identity from their sex at birth. For example, a person born into a male body but feels female or lives as a woman would be transgender. A transgender person may be of any sexual orientation—straight, gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Are you transgender?” Response options were “yes,” “no,” or “don’t know.” We drew this question from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which defines “transgender” for respondents who express confusion about the term. We opted to define the term for all respondents to reduce the potential for false positives. From these questions, 1,743 respondents indicated that they were LGBTQFootnote ² (8.7% of the sample), which reflects recent estimates of the percentage of people who identify as LGBTQ.

Demographic Comparisons About The Lgbtq Sample

Because official government statistics are not available about LGBTQ people, I selected the weighting targets based on other probability-based surveys that collect SOGI, including the Gallup Poll. Flores and Conron (Reference Flores and Conron2023) provide demographic benchmarks across various surveys.Footnote ⁵ Some of these benchmarks to the weighted 2020 CMPS are compared in table 1. The 2020 CMPS LGBTQ sample tends to include slightly older, more man-identified, and racially and ethnically diverse people than comparable statistics. However, these differences may be artifacts of the questionnaire design. The CMPS is intended to obtain a more thorough measurement of a person’s racial self-identification, which may result in differences from other statistics. We also used a gender-identity question, by which the comparisons are measured with binary sex-based measures.

Table 1

Comparing Demographics of the 2020 CMPS to Other Surveys

Notes: BRFSS=Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. *Of respondents aged 25 years or older.