Perceptions of People Who Use Non-Heterosexist Language by People of Different Sexual Orientations

Abstract

One hundred fifty participants who self-identified as heterosexual and 152 participants who self-identified as queer were asked to read a vignette containing a character who used either heterosexist or non-heterosexist language. With regards to the latter vignette, the researcher hypothesized that queer participants would assume that the character using non-heterosexist language 1) was more supportive of queer rights; 2) had increased exposure to queer people; 3) was more likely to be queer; 4) was more open to new ideas in general; and 5) was more likely to be someone with whom they could be friends. Heterosexual participants were not expected to make the same assumptions about the character in the vignette. Results showed that both heterosexual and queer participants made similar assumptions about the character in the vignette who used non-heterosexist language; however, in most cases queer participants made significantly stronger assumptions than heterosexual participants.