Date of Award

5-2008

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Campus-Only Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Human Development

Advisor

Sandra L. Caron

Second Committee Member

Robert Milardo

Third Committee Member

Stephen Marks

Abstract

This study was conducted to discover the attitude toward gay men and lesbians and the level of support for gay and lesbian human rights on a northeastern university campus and to explore differences between various demographic groups. The survey was distributed to a sample of 25% of the full time staff (administrators, professional staff, faculty, and classified staff) and students (graduate and undergraduate) and had a campus wide response rate of 35.15%. Results indicate a generally positive attitude and high level of support for gay and lesbian human rights campus wide, with significant differences in both attitudes toward gay men and lesbians and in support for gay and lesbian human rights were found for gender, age, sexual orientation, marital status, religious affiliation and level of religious conservativism when tested independently. However, a multiple regression analysis indicates that gender, age, and sexual orientation are the only real factors when controlling for spuriousness. Limitations, implications and suggestions for future research are included.

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