Comparing San Antonians' Attitudes Toward Protecting Civil Liberties of Homosexuals and Atheists-

San Antonio Survey 2000 Data versus National Opinion Research Center 1998 Data-

PART 3--HOW SAN ANTONIO ATTITUDES COMPARE TO NATIONAL ATTITUDES? (One more time)

By James Dean Steger, B.A. and
Arturo Vega, Ph.D.¹

ISSUE:: What are San Antonians' attitudes towards homosexuality and the civil rights of lesbians and gays? The following is the third of three recent issue briefs on attitudes towards homosexuals and their civil rights in San Antonio (see website for Parts 1 and 2). Part 1 examined San Antonians' attitudes towards homosexuality using data from the Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute's (MRPI's) San Antonio Survey (SAS) 1999. Part 2 compared San Antonio's attitudes to national opinion data. This third part compares San Antonio's attitudes toward extending civil liberties to gays and lesbians relative to national opinion data. Data examined are from the MRPI's SAS 2000. We compare local attitudes towards homosexual civil rights relative to attitudes towards atheists and then compare these same results to national opinion data.

DATA AND METHODS: To measure San Antonians' perceptions and attitudes towards lesbians and gays civil liberties, data from the SAS 2000 were analyzed. The annual SAS are probability surveys (randomly produced telephone numbers), topical in content, and used to measure attitudes and perceptions of San Antonians on important issues of the day.² Two sets of three civil liberties liberties questions pertaining to gays and lesbians and atheists were utilized to create indices measuring civil liberties of homosexuals (ICLH) and of atheists (ICLA).³ The ICLH was created from responses to three questions:

• And what about a man who admits that he is a homosexual. Suppose this admitted homosexual wanted to make a speech in your community. Should he be allowed to speak, or not? (HOMOSPK) ("Yes, allowed to speak" (coded 0); ); "Not allowed" (coded 1);
• Should such a person be allowed to teach in a college or university, or not? (HOMOTCH) ("Yes, allowed to teach" (coded 0); "Not allowed" (coded 1);
• If some people in your community suggested that a book he wrote in favor of homosexuality should be taken out of your public library, would you favor removing this book, or not? (HOMOLIB) ("Not favor removing book" (coded 0); "Favor removing book" (coded 1).

DISCUSSION: Results indicate that San Antonians, like the nation, are more willing to extend civil liberties to homosexuals than to atheists. Nearly seventy (69.5) percent of the respondents expressed the highest level of tolerance in extending civil liberties to homosexuals. In comparison, slightly over half (53.4%) expressed the same level of tolerance in extending civil liberties to atheists (see Figure 1). Among respondents to the national data (NORC ICLH) for example, sixty-five (65.1) percent are most tolerant of granting civil liberties to civil homosexuals and about twelve (11.7) percent of respondents in the sample were least tolerant of granting first amendment rights to homosexuals. In contrast, not quite half (49.7%) of respondents to the NORC ICLA questions expressed the highest level of tolerance to extending civil liberties to atheists and fifteen (15) percent of respondents expressed the least tolerance toward extending atheist civil liberties. San Antonians are more likely than national respondents to say civil liberties ought to be extended to homosexuals and to atheists (ICLH-t=45.92, p=<.05; ICLA-t= 27.22, p=<.05).

Attitudes towards civil liberties towards homosexuals varied over several demographic characteristics. In both datasets, persons with higher levels of education were more apt to endorse the civil liberties of homosexuals (NORC 1998: 84.4% Adv. Degree respondents scored most tolerant; SAS 2000: 81.6% Adv. Degree respondents respondents scored most tolerant [see Figure 2]). In contrast, the largest percent of individuals who were least tolerant (score 3 on index) in both data sets are those with less than a a high school education education (NORC 1998: 23.5%; SAS 2000: 21.7%). Education is statistically significant and moderately associated with the ICLH in both datasets (NORC 1998: Gamma=.36, p<.01; SAS 2000: Gamma=.34, p<.01), meaning that tolerance levels are related to education.

While statistically significant in the San Antonio Survey data (p<.01),gender gender is not significant in the NORC 1998 dataset (p=.87). In the San Antonio survey, females females tend to be significantly more tolerant of civil liberties for homosexuals than their males counterparts (76.4% versus 61.3%, respectively). Gender has a low level of association with ICLH (Gamma=.29). Among different age age groups, persons in the younger age group (18-29) ) were more likely to support civil liberties of homosexuals in both datasets (NORC 1998: 76.8%, scored most tolerant; SAS 2000: 82.2%, scored most tolerant). In contrast, older respondents (65+) +) were least likely to support extending civil liberties to homosexuals (NORC 1998: 26.6%, scored least tolerant; SAS 2000: 16%, scored least tolerant). Age was a statistically significant predictor in both datasets (p<.01, NORC 1998 and SAS 2000) but the relationship is weak (NORC 1998: Gamma=.15; SAS 2000: Gamma=.16).

Liberals were most tolerant of civil liberties for homosexuals than moderates or conservatives in the NORC 1998 dataset (79.6%, score 0) while moderates expressed the most tolerance in the SAS 2000 dataset (71.7%, score 0). Political ideology has a statistically significant, but weak association with the ICLH in each dataset (NORC 1998: Cramer's V=.139, p<.01; SAS 2000: Cramer's V=.14, p<.01).

Attitudes among persons with different races/ethnicities ethnicities varied between the NORC 1998 and SAS 2000 datasets (See Figure 3). While Hispanics and Whites Whites were more likely to favor civil liberties of homosexuals in the national (NORC) dataset (67.5% White, Score 0; 69.7% Hispanic, Score 0), African Americans and Whites were the most tolerant in the San Antonio survey (83% African Americans, Score 0, 76.5% White Score 0 versus 61.7% Hispanic, Score 0). Race/ethnicity ethnicity is statistically significant in both datasets but again has a weak association (Cramer's V=.07, NORC; Cramer's V=.15, SAS 2000). Finally, a multivariate analysis of the SAS 2000 data indicated that people who are younger, Whites, and females exhibit the most tolerance on the ICLH, compared to African Americans, Latinos, and Liberals (F=13.27, p<.01).

OBSERVATIONS: San Antonians offer some interesting exceptions to the national opinions of homosexuals in the United States. Similar to national respondents, persons in younger age groups, Whites, Liberals and Females all have significantly more tolerance to homosexuals than their counterparts. Unlike national respondents, however, Blacks, Hispanics and even Conservatives in San Antonio are significantly more favorable to homosexuals in San Antonio than the rest of the nation. This may be due to the urban context San Antonio provides. San Antonio is unique to the nation in that it has a diverse group of races/ethnicities and political ideologies. This diversity may promote acceptance of other groups, such as homosexuals and Atheists.

Interestingly, in spite of the high levels of tolerance expressed in the survey data, San Antonio is the only metropolis in Texas, that does not have a non-discrimination ordinance for its city employees. Furthermore city leaders have been at the political forefront in removing funding for queer arts organizations. San Antonians need to tap their tolerances of the civil liberties of homosexuals to positive ends. Recent research⁶ (Black, et al.) has shown that the more tolerant and accepting cities are to different groups, the more cities will grow in business, tourism, and high-tech employment opportunities.

1. Portions of this issue brief were presented as part of a Western Poltical Science Association conference paper co-authored with John Bretting, Public Administration, University of Texas at San Antonio. We acknowledge and thank MRPI faculty associates, for their collaborative contributions in conducting the annual San Antonio Survey.
2. The San Antonio Survey 2000 (SAS 2000) was conducted during the weeks of October 9-25th, 2000. The SAS 2000 data are based on a random probability sample of individuals with telephones and consist of eight hundred and forty-two (842) responses from the Bexar County metropolitan area. A split sample design produced 389 completed responses from a random sample of individuals who had voted in one of the last five elections, and 388 from a random sample of adults in San Antonio with telephones. The standard error of the entire sample is +/- 3.4% and the error for each split sample is +/- 4.8% with a 95 percent confidence level.
3. The wording of the civil liberties questions are identical to wording used by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, which conducts the annual General Social Surveys (GSS). NORC 1998 is the latest available GSS data and represents responses from a stratified random sample of 38,000 persons nationwide. Using the same-question from a national data set permits a relative comparison of local attitudes to national.
4. The frequency distributions on both the ICLH and the ICLA approximate normal distributions. Tests for reliability produce a Crombach's alpha of .71. for the ICLH and .65 for the ICLA. Both alpha suggest relatively strong indice measurements.
5. NORC ICLH's Crombach's alpha of .79 reliability; NORC ICLA's Crombach's alpha of .73 reliability.
6. Black, Dan, Gary Gates, Seth Sanders and Lowell Taylor. 2000. "Demographics of Gay and Lesbian Population in the Unites States: Evidence from Available Systematic Data Sources. Demography 37 (May): 139-154.