Abstract
Attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQ+) have been consistently, yet slowly, improving across the Western world. However, the belief that LGBTQ+ people are incapable of sustaining healthy relationships and providing safe and nurturing family environments persists, thus justifying rejection of human rights of LGBTQ+ people to marry and to have children, among others. Very few studies have addressed the levels of prejudice toward LGBTQ+ people and LGBTQ+ rights in the global south, particularly in a rapidly changing American continent. Among continental American-Hispanic nations, legal progress and attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people have been, and still are, uneven. In this chapter, we examined the legal progress in this region and present findings from a large cross-national and cross-sectional survey on attitudes toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people and their rights from 1995 heterosexual and cisgender participants from 14 nations. We found an important association between legal achievements and attitudes toward LGB people insofar as the countries with the most progressive legislation regarding LGBTQ+ rights hold the most accepting attitudes toward LGB people and their rights. The implications of these findings and the uneven landscape across the Americas are discussed.
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Costa, P.A., Salinas-Quiroz, F. (2021). Attitudes Toward LGBTQ+ People and LGBTQ+ Rights in Continental American-Hispanic Nations. In: Morais, N.A.d., Scorsolini-Comin, F., Cerqueira-Santos, E. (eds) Parenting and Couple Relationships Among LGBTQ+ People in Diverse Contexts. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84189-8_3
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