Do Sexual Minorities Participate More in Politics?

• In Event: Electoral Democracy in Canada

Abstract

Studying who participates in politics is important. In this research, we study the political participation of an important group that has only received scant attention in the literature: sexual minorities. To do so, we leverage recent datasets allowing for the first comprehensive study on the relationship between sexual orientation and non-electoral political participation in Canada. In line with the theoretical expectation, sexual minorities (n=2,339) participate to a greater extent in politics compared to heterosexuals (n=24,262). They do so even when controlling for numerous socioeconomic factors. Among other things, it suggests that they do not participate to a greater extent in non-electoral politics simply because they are younger. However, the magnitude of the positive association between identifying as a sexual minority and political participation substantially varies, that is, it is much larger for non-institutionalized forms of political participation (e.g., protest) compared to institutionalized forms of participation (e.g., being a member of a political party). We also show that the sexuality gaps found in citizens’ political participation are similar across gender identities. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for the comparative literature on sexuality and politics, but also on how the Canadian case study sheds light on our understanding of political participation among sexual minorities.

Keywords: Non-Electoral Political Participation; Sexual Orientation; Sexual Minorities; Democracy

Authors

• Jean-François Daoust, Université de Sherbrooke & University of Edinburgh

• Semih Cakir, University of Vienna

• Ruth Dassonneville, Universite de Montreal

• Mélyann Guévremont, Université de Sherbrooke