• Neha Zaidi

The current study tested whether the introduction of government policy, signaling the local majority's dominant attitudes, was correlated with shifts in the attitudes of residents. Specifically, we tested whether state-by-state same-sex marriage legislation was correlated with decreases in implicit and explicit antigay bias with about 1 million responses over a 12-y window. The findings consistently provide evidence for this possibility across five operationalizations. Until same-sex marriage legalisation, both implicit and overt prejudice decreased, but decreased after legalisation at a sharper pace. Whether states passed legislation locally was to moderate this impact. While a greater decrease in bias following legislation was experienced by states passing legislation, states that never enacted legislation reported increased antigay bias following federal legalisation. Our research illustrates how government policy may inform the attitudes of individuals, even though these attitudes may be deeply ingrained and volatile socially and politically.

Attitudes, American National Election Studies (ANES), Behaviors, Implicit Association Test (IAT), Vulnerable.

"The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 12, page no.442-445, December 2018, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIREP06111.pdf

"The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 12, page no. pp442-445, December 2018, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIREP06111.pdf