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Legalized Same-Sex Marriage and Coming Out in America: Evidence from Catholic Seminaries

Author

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  • Avner Seror

    (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Rohit Ticku

    (Institute for the Study of Religion, Economics and Society, Chapman University)

Abstract

We study the effect of legalization of same-sex marriage on coming out in the United States. We overcome data limitations by inferring coming out decisions through a revealed preference mechanism. We exploit data on enrollment in seminary studies for the Catholic priesthood, hypothesizing that Catholic priests' vow of celibacy may lead gay men to self-select as a way to avoid a heterosexual lifestyle. Using a differencesin-differences design that exploits variation in the timing of legalization across states, we find that city-level enrollment in priestly studies fell by about 15% exclusively in states adopting the reform. The celibacy norm appears to be driving our results, since we find no effect on enrollment in deacon or lay ministry studies that do not require celibacy. We also find that coming out decisions, as inferred through enrollment in priestly studies, are primarily affected by the presence of gay communities and by prevailing social attitudes toward gays. We explain our findings with a stylized model of lifestyle choice.

Suggested Citation

  • Avner Seror & Rohit Ticku, 2021. "Legalized Same-Sex Marriage and Coming Out in America: Evidence from Catholic Seminaries," Working Papers halshs-03202104, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03202104
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03202104
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Enzo Brox & Riccardo Di Francesco, 2024. "The Cost of Coming Out," CEIS Research Paper 572, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 16 Apr 2024.
    2. Avner Seror, 2022. "The Priced Survey Methodology," AMSE Working Papers 2224, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    homosexuality; religion; identity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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