Description: Department Seminar: Peter Slade (University of Saskatchewan)

Location: 368A Heady Hall

Contact Person: GianCarlo Moschini

Title: Social Attitudes and Demographic Differences between Homosexual and Heterosexual Males

Abstract: I examine the relationship between gay-straight demographic differences and societal attitudes towards homosexuality. Using the American Community Survey (2005-2014), I find that gay-straight differences in education, occupation and internal migration are lower among men born in more tolerant states.  I propose two complementary explanations for the results: first, intolerance may cause gay men to make different decisions about their education, occupation, and migration.  Second, living in a more tolerant state, having higher education, or working in a certain profession may make a man more likely to live in an open same-sex partnership.  Under either of these explanations, the results suggest that intolerance imposes significant costs on gay men that are not captured in previous economic analyses of discrimination. I discuss how intolerance can reinforce stereotypical views of individuals within self-identified categories.