Time to put a grossly unfair and inappropriate meme to rest...

...there is a perception that Blacks are more homophobic than Whites, and that this difference is because of the importance of religion in the Black community, another factor frequently associated with homophobic attitudes. This perception has not been empirically tested to any great extent. In the current study of 551 Midwestern college students, both independent t-test results and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis find that there are no significant racial differences between Black and White students in indexes measuring views toward, rights for, and willingness to socialize with gays and lesbians. Gender is a significant predictor of homophobia for both groups, although age and measures for the importance of religion are significant predictors for White students only.

Yet evidence that blacks are more homophobic than whites is quite limited. This article uses responses from almost seven thousand blacks and forty-three thousand whites in 31 surveys conducted since 1973 to give more definitive answers on black-white attitudinal differences and their demographic roots. Despite their greater disapproval of homosexuality, blacks' opinions on sodomy laws, gay civil liberties, and employment discrimination are quite similar to whites' opinions, and African Americans are more likely to support laws prohibiting antigay discrimination. Once religious and educational differences are controlled, blacks remain more disapproving of homosexuality but are moderately more supportive of gay civil liberties and markedly more opposed to antigay employment discrimination than are whites. Yet religion, education, gender, and age all have weaker impacts on black than on white attitudes, suggesting that black and white attitudes have different roots.