In recent years, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights and candidacies have expanded across Latin America. Some argue that such progress may provoke a conservative reaction, including the electoral rejection of LGBT candidates. Do voters punish gay candidates? To answer this, we conducted survey experiments in Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. We find no punishment among the general electorate: voters in Argentina reward gay candidates, while Chilean and Mexican citizens are indifferent. We then focus on right-wing voters and compare reactions among supporters of the mainstream right and the reactionary far right – the group most likely to reject a gay candidate. Consistent with our expectations, mainstream right supporters do not penalise such candidates in any country. Similarly, in Argentina, voters who back Freedom Advances – a hybrid party combining libertarianism, anti-system appeals, and right-wing radicalism – do not punish gay candidates. Only voters aligned with a clearly far-right party, the Republican Party in Chile, reject gay candidates.
Cella et al. (Tue,) studied this question.