What is "us"? The impact of perceived cultural threat on in-group attitudes towards LGBTQI rights

While numerous studies provide information on the socio-structural determinants of attitudes towards LGBTQI rights, less is known about how these attitudes may change depending on how these rights are framed and on who is perceived as a threat to LGBTQI people. In an experimental setting, people with anti-immigration positions showed greater support for LGBTQI rights when non-natives fought against them than if natives did. The aim of this article is to assess whether this pattern is also present in real-life settings. Opponents of immigration often present the cultural differences between immigrants and natives as a threat to Western European culture. They use homonationalist rhetoric, for example, claiming that immigration from specific regions represents a threat to the safety of gays and lesbians in Western Europe. I expect those exposed to this argument to react to this perceived cultural threat by adopting stronger positions towards what has been framed as the native cultural identity, in this case (more) progressive attitudes on LGBTQI rights. Using a causal inference design, I estimate and find a positive impact of highly salient debates on immigration on attitudes towards LGBTQI rights. These results provide first insights about the influence of (perceived) cultural threat as a driver of attitudinal changes on issues other than immigration.