In another article (Lemelle AJ, Battle J, 2000):
http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/glbss/PDFS/BlackMenMasculinity.pdf
``It is commonly thought among activists and scholars that African Americans are significantly less tolerant of homosexuality than whites. But little empirical research has contributed to understanding the direct effects of differences among them like church attendance, education, income and urban residency on their attitudes toward gay males (Halton 1989; Rose 1998; Waldner, Sikka and Baig 1999).
... Research shows that individuals and groups with conservative ideologies are likely to harbor more negative attitudes toward gay males (Estrada and Weiss 1999; Jome and Tokar 1998; Sullivan 1999). Ficarrotto (1990) reported that sexual conservatism correlated with racist and sexist beliefs as independent and equal predictors of antihomosexual sentiment. Schieman (1998) found in his sample of 189 university students that men reported significantly higher levels of social distance and homophobia. He also reported that homophobia was higher among men who did not know or were "not close" to someone with AIDS and who accepted media portrayals of gay men as accurate. These findings are interesting for thinking about African Americans. We do not know if African Americans should be considered "more conservative" than whites. We do not know if black males think differently than white males about homosexuality...''
Needless to say Lemelle and Battle, did not answer that question. What they did instead is note basically the same data and results given below from a later study. Since it is restricted to African American households it is impossible to make a comparision, between black and white attitudes about homosexuality in general. Since the data was also restricted to 50%, it is also impossible to tell if racial and ethnic integration were factors. (I think they are.)
(Somebody please find some study [not a news poll] with an explicit comparsion between black and white attitudes. I couldn't.)
The conclusion I come to is that black churchs do not play the same role in black communities as do white churchs in fostering homophobia. The only suggestion of such a correlation proposed in these studies was for the Nation of Islam. On the other hand, since none of the data queried religion by denomination, there were no possible conclusion for any denominational breakdown
Another more recent study (Battle, Lemelle, 2002):
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go2877/is_3_26/ai_n28967630/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1
Description and Measurement of Variables
This research analyzes the impact of five independent variables--gender, church attendance, age, education, and household income--on attitudes toward homosexual men.
Dependent Variable
Attitudes Toward Homosexual Men was constructed as a result of asking respondents to rate certain people and groups on a scale ranging zero to 100. Zero meant strongly unfavorable and 100 meant strongly favorable. Among the groups presented was "gay men."
Results
As indicated above, two models were employed to determine the effects of gender on attitudes toward homosexual males by African Americans. A summary of the means, standard deviations, and other descriptive statistics for the dependent and independent variables is presented in Table 1.
Next we looked at the bivariate relationships of the independent variables with the dependent variable. Table 2 shows females feel more positively toward gay men than males; and African Americans who attend religious services at least once monthly feel more negatively toward gay men than those who attend religious services less frequently.
For the continuous variables, we found that though age does not have a statistically significant relationship with the dependent variable, income and education do (see Table 3). More specifically, as income and education increase, homophobia decreases.
Finally, we were interested in the simultaneous effects of these variables. Model I in Table 4, like Table 2, shows that females report more positive attitudes toward gay men than do males. Model II reveals that age and education are statistically significant and positively related to the dependent variable and religious attendance was negatively related. Though higher household income tends to be related to more positive feelings toward homosexual males, that relationship was not shown to be statistically significant. Age was not significant bivariately; however, by including the other variables in a model, we discovered that as people age, their attitudes toward gay men become more positive. Income behaved differently on a bivariate level than it did on a multivariate level. Bivariately, income was significant; however, in the presence of the other variables, it no longer was.
Central to the research presented here, Model II shows that in the presence of the statistical controls, the gender gap not only persists, but actually widens. In other words, when the effects of religious attendance, age, education, and income are considered, the gender gap becomes even more pronounced--from a gap of 7.759 to a gap of 8.345. Further, beta scores show that gender is more powerful than age, education, and income in explaining attitudes toward homosexual males; and is about twice as powerful as religious attendance: .073 and. 145 respectively....
We are in the early stages of understanding African American attitudes toward homosexuals. For the research examined here, using one question to measure homophobia instead of a battery of questions or a variety of skits is a clear drawback. However, we feel that there is both empirical and heuristic value in that one question. We see our research as but a first step for further investigation among our colleagues interested in gender, family, health, mental health, aging, public policy, and HIV/AIDS research within the African American community specifically and the larger community more generally. It is only as a result of comprehensive research in this area that we can move further away from placing blame and toward empowering people regardless of race, class, gender, religious affiliation, and sexual orientation.
Table 1: Descriptive Variables for African American Adults Dependent Variable: Attitudes Toward Gay Men
Mean Std. Dev. Minimum Maximum
Gay Males 28.80 28.68 0 100
Female 0.56 0.50 0 1
Religious Monthly 0.87 0.34 0 1
Age 40.97 15.86 18 88
Education 13.07 2.98 0 24
Household Income 4.70 2.43 1 9
Total N = 797
Table 2: Mean Differences on Attitude Toward Gay Men
Gender
Females 31.22 ** Males 26.25
Religious Attendance
At Least Monthly 27.73 * Less Than Monthly 33.52
* Groups differed at the 0.05 level
** Groups differed at the 0.01 level
Table 3: Pearsons Correlations
Attitudes Toward Age Education
Gay Men
Age .042 Education .118 ** -.083 ** Income .104 ** -.020 .292 **
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Table 4: Waighted Unstandardized Regression Coefficients for African American Adults Attitudes Toward Gay Men (betas in parentheses)
Model I Model II
Female 7.759 *** (.134) 8.345 *** (.145) Religious Monthly -6.168 * (-.073) Age .151 * (.083) Education .830 * (.086) Household Income .731 (.062) Constant 24.470 *** 9.037 Adjusted [R.sup.2] .017 .036
N = 797
* p<.05
** p<.01
*** p<.001