PARTY IDENTIFICATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS HOMOSEXUALS IN GREAT-BRITAIN

Legislative activity and controversy concerning the issue of homosexua l rights and practices has intensified in Britain over the last decade . Despite this increase in intensity, however, the question of mass pu blic opinion in relation to homosexual rights and practices has receiv ed little empirical investigation. In an effort to remedy this situati on, this paper focuses on the influence of party identification in det ermining public attitudes towards homosexuals. Using data from the Bri tish Social Attitudes Surveys, the results suggest that although party identification exerts an independent and statistically significant ef fect on attitudes towards homosexuals, in all cases, however, these ef fects are both secondary and variable. Other equally, if not more sali ent, determinants include: gender, education, age, occupation, and typ e of homosexual relationship. Of these various socio-demographic varia bles, both age and education stand out as having the strongest and mos t consistent effect. In other words, at least as far as current Britis h society is concerned, anti-homosexual views are most prevalent among both older individuals as well as the lesser educated.