Legislation as Anti-Hero: Determinants of Community Antidiscrimination Opposition

The recent spate of antidiscrimination ordinances, also known as “bathroom bills”, represents a new facet of American anti-LGBT policy. Using the example of Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) this paper analyzes the neighborhood configurations wherein opposition to antidiscrimination legislation becomes manifest. This paper focuses especially on the ways that a neighborhood’s dominant family structure as well as its religious or LGBT-friendly environment determines whether legislation such as HERO is perceived as threatening to the community. Using a unique data set, this paper finds support for the association between a neighborhood’s normative traditional family structure or conservative religious environment and opposition to HERO, while finding that the presence of LGBT-friendly businesses and organizations is associated with support for antidiscrimination ordinances. Notably, though, opposition is greatest in contexts where LGBT-friendly organizations and conservative religious environments exist together.