The Psychology of Sexual Prejudice
Abstract
Sexual prejudice refers to negative attitudes toward an individual because of her or his sexual orientation. In this article, the term is used to characterize heterosexuals' negative attitudes toward (a) homosexual behavior, (b) people with a homosexual or bisexual orientation, and (c) communities of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. Sexual prejudice is a preferable term to homophobia because it conveys no assumptions about the motivations underlying negative attitudes, locates the study of attitudes concerning sexual orientation within the broader context of social psychological research on prejudice, and avoids value judgments about such attitudes. Sexual prejudice remains widespread in the United States, although moral condemnation has decreased in the 1990s and opposition to antigay discrimination has increased. The article reviews current knowledge about the prevalence of sexual prejudice, its psychological correlates, its underlying motivations, and its relationship to hate crimes and other antigay behaviors.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
More politically conservative people typically display more prejudice toward LGB+ people.
“more politically conservative people typically display more prejudice toward LGB+ people (Herek, 2000).”
From Fixed or Fluid? Sexual Identity Fluidity in a Large National Panel Study of New Zealand Adults (2024) · cites this paper as Herek, 2000
Each finding on political conservatism and religiosity is consistent with the idea that conservatives are generally more negative toward LGB+ people and identities.
“Each finding is consistent with the idea that conservatives are generally more negative toward LGB+ people and identities (Herek, 2000).”
From Fixed or Fluid? Sexual Identity Fluidity in a Large National Panel Study of New Zealand Adults (2024) · cites this paper as Herek, 2000
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Meyer, I. H. (2003) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674 · Cited by 14,736 · see citing works
Beyond “Homophobia”: Thinking about sexual prejudice and stigma in the twenty-first century
Herek, G. M. (2004) · Sexuality Research and Social Policy · doi:10.1525/srsp.2004.1.2.6 · Cited by 1,029 · see citing works
Self-citationMostly Heterosexual and Mostly Gay/Lesbian: Evidence for New Sexual Orientation Identities
Vrangalova, Z., & Savin-Williams, R. C. (2012) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-012-9921-y · Cited by 317 · see citing works
Dodge, B., Herbenick, D., Friedman, M. R., Schick, V., Fu, T.-C. (., Bostwick, W., Bartelt, E., Muñoz-Laboy, M., Pletta, D., Reece, M., et al. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0164430 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
Savin-Williams, R. C., & Vrangalova, Z. (2013) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1016/j.dr.2013.01.001 · Cited by 277 · see citing works
Measurement of masculinity ideologies: A (critical) review.
Thompson, E. H., & Bennett, K. M. (2015) · Psychology of Men & Masculinity · doi:10.1037/a0038609 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Espelage, D. L., Basile, K. C., De La Rue, L., & Hamburger, M. E. (2015) · Journal of Interpersonal Violence · doi:10.1177/0886260514553113 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Operario, D., Sun, S., Bermudez, A. N., Masa, R., Shangani, S., van der Elst, E., & Sanders, E. (2022) · The Lancet HIV · doi:10.1016/s2352-3018(22)00076-5 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Psychosocial concerns of sexual minority youth: complexity and caution in group differences
Poteat, V. P., Aragon, S. R., Espelage, D. L., & Koenig, B. W. (2009) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0014158 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Gender, Sexual Prejudice and Sport Participation: Implications for Sexual Minorities
Sartore, M. L., & Cunningham, G. B. (2009) · Sex Roles · doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9502-7 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Sexual orientations in perspective.
Garnets, L. D. (2002) · Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology · doi:10.1037/1099-9809.8.2.115 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Liang, Z., & Huang, Y.-T. (2022) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499.2021.1947954 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Fixed or Fluid? Sexual Identity Fluidity in a Large National Panel Study of New Zealand Adults
Lilly, K. J., Satherley, N., Sibley, C. G., Barlow, F. K., & Greaves, L. M. (2024) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499.2023.2289517 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Prince, D. M., Ray-Novak, M., Gillani, B., & Peterson, E. (2022) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380211013129 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Ingram, M. V., Speedlin, S., Cannon, Y., Prado, A., & Avera, J. (2017) · Journal of Creativity in Mental Health · doi:10.1080/15401383.2016.1248266 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“Real men in the battlefield”: a hybrid AI–discourse analysis of online homophobia and transphobia
Baider, F., & Mesaritou, O. (2026) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2026.1748828
- Authors
- Herek, G. M.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Herek, Gregory M.
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2000-02
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 19-22
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- OpenAlex
- W2106847565
- Cited by
- 1,099
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 87 · 2015: 65 · 2014: 83 · 2013: 71 · 2012: 71
- FWCI
- 22.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
- Keywords
- sexual prejudice, homophobia, sexual orientation, gay and lesbian community, moral condemnation, hate crimes
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
