Sexual Orientation in Politics

Sexual Orientation is a large matter at hand in todays society. Recently, the Supreme
Court ruled that couples of the same gender can be legally married. This has led to much
discontent in the Republican state of Utah. The majority of people in Utah is conservative and
holds to traditional family values, and many do not want same-sex marriage to be legal. Though
there are still some liberals who are content with gay marriage, most people in Utah are opposed
to same-gender attraction in general. This leads to the question, Does the sexual orientation of a
political candidate affect the opinion of Utah citizens, namely those from the South Jordan area?
My group decided to survey various people in this area to attempt to answer this question. The
survey listed the qualities, characteristics, work experience, and political views of a fictional
political candidate named Patrick Sorensen. Half of the surveys said the candidate was lifepartnered with two children and supported the Gay Pride Parade; the surveys were identical in
all other aspects. Those whom I interviewed only dealt with the straight candidate. Other
members of my group distributed surveys concerning the gay candidate. I surveyed mostly
neighbors and family members while some members of my group asked random citizens on the
street. Others asked church leaders, neighbors, and friends. Asking this broad range of people
helped us get a wider range of results about the opinion of the South Jordan area, assisting us in
answering our question.
The survey began with questions regarding the gender, religious affiliation, and age
bracket of the interviewee. The remainder of the questions had to do with the fictional candidate,
Patrick Sorensen. Examinees were asked to check Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, or
Strongly Disagree to the following statements: he (Patrick Sorensen) has a sufficient education to
be a U.S. Senator from Utah, he has sufficient work experience to be a U.S. Senator from Utah,

he demonstrates strong leadership skills, he has the kinds of life experiences that will help him
understand average Utahans, and I support more of his policy positions than I oppose. At the end
of the survey, each student had the opportunity to write their own question. I chose the question,
What stands out most to you about Patrick Sorensen? This question allowed me to see what
impressed people about his character and political views. It helped me get a better idea of how
the interviewees viewed the straight candidate. A person in my group who had surveys of the
gay candidate asked, Do you believe this person has strong moral character? This allowed us
to better understand the general opinion of the gay man.
Before starting our survey, my group decided on a hypothesis about the results. We
believed that the majority of people would rather vote for the straight candidate, though they
would still respect the gay man and try not to let his sexual orientation affect their answers. It
was assumed that younger people and young adults would be more likely to vote for the gay
candidate than the older generations, but the majority of people would choose the straight man
over the gay man. We presumed these results because people in older generations tend to have a
more difficult time accepting radical ideas, such as having a gay politician. Younger citizens, on
the other hand, have grown up in this modern society and are more prone to accept these radical
ideas. Overall, we believed Utah citizens would prefer the straight candidate over the gay
candidate because Utah is a fairly conservative state.
As I gave out the surveys regarding the straight candidate I noticed many interesting
things. Ninety percent of the people I interviewed were LDS. The other ten percent did not list a
religion. All of the participants under the age of twenty-one answered strongly agree, agree, or
neutral to every question. Many of these young adults noted that the candidate had a lot of
experience in his community and with social work. One even wrote, Being a social worker he

works with/understands the people. He isnt another politician manipulating his words to get the
vote of the people. Similar to this statement, most of these young adults seemed to think the
straight Patrick Sorensen was a pretty average, respectable candidate for Senate. It can be noted
that these people did not seem have a very strong opinion of politics or political views because of
their young age, thus they answered in a fairly neutral or agreeable manner. People that were
interviewed in the 21-30 and 31-40 age-brackets had more concerns towards the fictional person
than the youngest group. These people had more disagrees in their answers and had longer
responses for what stood out to them most about the candidate. Almost every one of these
people commented that the candidate was in-between both major political parties. They also
mentioned that he had little political experience, though he had a lot of volunteer work. These
more sophisticated responses prove that this age group had a more firm stance in politics. Those
interviewed in the ages 41-50, 51-60, and over 60 responded with mostly agree and neutral.
These people seemed to think Patrick Sorensen was fairly average man who could represent the
people of Utah. Overall, the responses of all age groups toward the straight candidate seemed
reasonable and positive, but many expressed their opinions on his political views openly. From
the majority of the responses, it is implied that because he was an average straight man, they
were concerned with his stances in politics. Responses from those who took the gay mans
survey were slightly different.
Those members of my group who distributed the survey regarding the gay candidate had
a wider range of religions; many were non-religious but others were LDS, Catholic, Presbyterian,
Christian, or Atheist. As these people took the surveys, it was observed that they did not really
care about the questions or information about the candidate. Many of the interviewees did not
even notice that Patrick Sorensen was gay until it was pointed out to them after they had

completed the survey. One woman stated, If you wouldnt have said anything I never wouldve
noticed. Another woman vocally stated that she did not want to vote for the candidate because
he regularly attended his church, but when she read that he supported the Gay Pride Parade, she
decided she would vote for him. This one instance was contrary to our belief that most people
would vote for the straight man over the gay. Though many participants may not have noticed
that the man was gay, the majority answered positively toward him. When the LDS people were
asked, Do you believe this person (the gay candidate) has strong moral character? most
answered with neutral or agree. This is interesting because many believe that Latter Day Saints
are completely opposed to same gender attraction; it shows that opinions are changing. The
majority of people (from all religions interviewed) answered strongly agree, agree, or neutral for
every question, though this may be attributed to the fact that they did not realize he was gay.
Nonetheless, it shows that Utahans are accepting of new ideas, even though Utah is a very
religious state. On the other hand, one man vocally expressed his negative opinion of the gay
candidate and his political views. He called Patrick Sorensen names and criticized his policies
and sexual orientation. This reaffirms the realization that some people continue to have strong
beliefs and ideas regarding the image of a perfect politician.
In general, most people expressed fairly favorable opinions toward both the gay and
straight candidate, but the results may be skewed. This may be because those interviewed
regarding the straight candidate were almost all LDS, and those interviewed regarding the gay
man were from many different religious affiliations. If we had only interviewed LDS people or
interviewed only other religions, the results may be different. Nevertheless, the majority of
people in the South Jordan area have fairly conservative values, despite their religion. The
results may also be skewed because not every person read the information on the candidate

thoroughly. If they did not notice that the candidate was gay, their answers may not have been
completely truthful.
Overall, each person in our group had many interesting observations and findings that
contributed to a more stimulating conclusion. Based on our results, though there is room for
error, most people interviewed about the gay candidate answered very positively, similar to the
results of the straight candidate. The majority of both groups were accepting of the candidate,
but the group with the gay man had some differences. There were more instances where people
spoke out strongly about their opinion of the gay candidates sexual orientation than those of the
straight man. Many people openly voiced their opinion of the straight candidates political
policies, but not many did the same for the gay man. Their thoughts were turned more to his
sexual orientation than his policies.
In conclusion, it was not clearly evident if our hypothesis was correct. Assuming
participants would be respectful towards the gay candidate could not be determined through a
survey. The questions on the survey did not allow us to comprehend the participants exact
thoughts towards the candidate. Thus, it is difficult to determine if the candidates sexual
orientation truly affected their thoughts, but we can assume they tried to answer truthfully. Our
hypothesis was also faulty in assuming all people in South Jordan opposed same-gender
attraction. People of all ages were willing to accept the gay candidate with few qualms. Some
people did vocally express their disapproval of his sexual orientation, but the majority was
tolerant of him. This demonstrates that times are changing, and conservative Utahans are
changing with society and its new notions. Our findings, despite their flaws, helped us conclude
that many citizens in the South Jordan area would accept a gay politician if he had agreeable
political policies and strong political experience.