Hispanic and Latino people are less likely to support politicians who use or are associated with “Latinx,” the gender-inclusive term referring to Hispanic and/or Latino populations, according to a new study from Georgetown and Harvard Universities. The term — which challenges the Spanish language’s masculine-leaning gender binary and increases awareness of non-binary Latinos — has become used more publicly since 2015, increasingly appearing in internet searches, academic and media language, and speeches by Democratic Party politicians.
After analyzing cross-referenced datasets from seven surveys of Hispanics and Latinos, the study’s co-authors wrote, “Our evidence shows when (Democratic) politicians — who are usually more pro-LGBTQ+ than their (Republican) political opponents — use gender-neutral group labels like ‘Latinx,’ they experience backlash from Latinos who would have otherwise supported Democratic party politicians but are negatively predisposed against LGBTQ+ people.”
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The study’s authors found that these biases persist even if politicians don’t communicate any policy or symbolic commitments toward genderqueer Latino and Hispanic people. The negative reactions to “Latinx” found in datasets primarily resulted from conservative and anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes, the authors wrote. These attitudes also indicated a greater likeliness to support Republicans like former President Donald Trump, they added.
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While prior research has shown that “the increase of gender-neutral language in the public generates positive attitudes toward women and LGBTQ+ people,” the authors also noted that previous studies had never before looked at the effects of such language in politically polarized and partisan settings.
“The increased [presence] of gender-neutral language may not always produce positive attitudinal shifts in service of the political interests of queer people and gender minorities,” the authors wrote. “Our evidence is consistent with a [newer] literature suggesting negative predispositions toward LGBTQ+ people may motivate non-whites to adopt increasingly conservative political stances despite their marginalized position on the ethno-racial hierarchy.”
Amanda Sahar d’Urso and Marcel F. Roman An image from the study showing possible anti-LGBTQ+ reactions to people hearing a politician using the term “Latinx” | Amanda Sahar d’Urso and Marcel F. Roman
The author’s findings led them to coin an explanation called the “Identity-Expansion-Backlash Theory.” The theory posits that politicians who use inclusive group labels (like “Latinx”) may experience backlash among relevant group members (like Hispanics and Latinos) who already harbor negative feelings against newly included or salient group members (like genderqueer Latinx people).
While “Latinx” and “Latine” have both become more publicly prevalent as gender-inclusive alternatives to “Latino” over the recent past, a 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center found that “Latinx” is used by just 3% of Latin Americans in the U.S. This is notable because other polls show that most Latin Americans in the U.S. are accepting of LGBTQ+ people.
Anecdotally, some Latinos in foreign countries dislike the term “Latinx” because it’s not always immediately understood by others. Some Spanish-speaking foreign natives dislike the term because they consider it a form of linguistic “colonialism” allegedly created by younger activists influenced by Western pro-LGBTQ+ politics.
Regardless, the study’s co-author Marcel F. Roman wrote via X that he and co-author Amanda Sahar d’Urso think that people should still use gender-inclusive language.
“Ultimately, the solution to the problem we’ve diagnosed requires thinking beyond electoral politics, [such as] political education meant to root out queerphobia in Latino communities, a very difficult solution for social scientists to develop, evaluate, and put into practice,” Roman added.
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