IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/125926.html

Rushing to the altar? Same-sex marriages when rights feel at risk

Author

Listed:
  • Maciel, Mateus
  • Zuchowski, David
  • Parente, Sara

Abstract

The literature on same-sex marriage has primarily focused on the effects of legal recognition, overlooking the factors that influence marriage decisions among samesex couples. This study provides novel evidence on the role of political context by analyzing how the election of a homophobic leader affects these decisions. Using the case of Brazil, we examine the effect of revealed local support for the openly homophobic Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential elections on same-sex marriage dynamics. To estimate this effect, we apply a difference-indifferences approach with varying treatment intensity. The results show a significant increase in same-sex marriages in municipalities with higher support for Bolsonaro during the period between the election and the start of his mandate. These findings suggest that perceived threats of rights restrictions can play a critical role in shaping personal decisions among minority groups, even in the absence of legal changes.

Suggested Citation

  • Maciel, Mateus & Zuchowski, David & Parente, Sara, 2025. "Rushing to the altar? Same-sex marriages when rights feel at risk," MPRA Paper 125926, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:125926
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/125926/2/MPRA_paper_125926.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nettuno, Laura, 2024. "Gender identity, labor market outcomes, and socioeconomic status: Evidence from Chile," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Tampellini, João, 2024. "Latin American pride: Labor market outcomes of sexual minorities in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Nicolás Ajzenman & Tiago Cavalcanti & Daniel Da Mata, 2023. "More than Words: Leaders' Speech and Risky Behavior during a Pandemic," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 351-371, August.
    4. Nick Drydakis, 2022. "Sexual orientation discrimination in the labor market against gay men," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 1027-1058, September.
    5. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Carpenter, Christopher S. & Frank, Jeff & Huffman, Matt L., 2019. "Gay glass ceilings: Sexual orientation and workplace authority in the UK," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 167-180.
    6. Cevat G. Aksoy & Christopher S. Carpenter & Jeff Frank, 2018. "Sexual Orientation and Earnings: New Evidence from the United Kingdom," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 71(1), pages 242-272, January.
    7. Aksoy, Cevat G. & Carpenter, Christopher S. & De Haas, Ralph & Tran, Kevin D., 2020. "Do laws shape attitudes? Evidence from same-sex relationship recognition policies in Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    8. Badgett, M.V. Lee & Waaldijk, Kees & Rodgers, Yana van der Meulen, 2019. "The relationship between LGBT inclusion and economic development: Macro-level evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-14.
    9. Erik Plug & Peter Berkhout, 2004. "Effects of sexual preferences on earnings in the Netherlands," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 17(1), pages 117-131, February.
    10. Barros, Laura & Santos Silva, Manuel, 2025. "Economic shocks, gender, and populism: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    11. Miriam Marcén & Marina Morales, 2022. "The effect of same-sex marriage legalization on interstate migration in the USA," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 441-469, April.
    12. Dan A. Black & Seth G. Sanders & Lowell J. Taylor, 2007. "The Economics of Lesbian and Gay Families," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 53-70, Spring.
    13. Leonardo Bursztyn & Georgy Egorov & Stefano Fiorin, 2020. "From Extreme to Mainstream: The Erosion of Social Norms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3522-3548, November.
    14. Sansone, Dario, 2019. "Pink work: Same-sex marriage, employment and discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    15. Nick Drydakis, 2022. "Sexual orientation and earnings: a meta-analysis 2012–2020," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 409-440, April.
    16. M. V. Lee Badgett & Christopher S. Carpenter & Maxine J. Lee & Dario Sansone, 2025. "A review of the effects of legal access to same‐sex marriage," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 266-294, January.
    17. Zanoni, Wladimir & Hernández, Hugo & Zambrano, Omar & Quiroz, Gabriel, 2024. "Discrimination against lesbian and gay job seekers: An artefactual field experiment in urban Ecuador," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    18. Camila Brown & Dante Contreras & Luis Schmidt, 2019. "Sexual Orientation and Labor Force Participation: Findings from Chile and Uruguay," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 90-115, April.
    19. Gutierrez, Emilio & Rubli, Adrian, 2024. "LGBT+ persons and homophobia prevalence across job sectors: Survey evidence from Mexico," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Graves, Jennifer & Trond, Christopher, 2024. "Employment discrimination and labor market protections for sexual minorities in Brazil," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cevat Giray Aksoy & Christopher S. Carpenter & Ralph De Haas & Mathias Dolls & Lisa Windsteiger, 2023. "Reducing Sexual Orientation Discrimination: Experimental Evidence from Basic Information Treatments," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 35-59, January.
    2. Francesco Berlingieri & Matija Kovacic, 2023. "Health and relationship quality of the LGBTQIA+ population in Europe," Working Papers 2023: 29, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    3. Tampellini, João, 2024. "Latin American pride: Labor market outcomes of sexual minorities in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Aksoy, Billur & Chadd, Ian & Koh, Boon Han, 2023. "Sexual identity, gender, and anticipated discrimination in prosocial behavior," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    5. Francesco Berlingieri & Matija Kovacic, 2025. "Health and relationship quality of sexual minorities in Europe," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-39, March.
    6. Sansone, Dario, 2019. "Pink work: Same-sex marriage, employment and discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    7. Listo, Ariel & Muñoz, Ercio A. & Sansone, Dario, 2025. "Measuring the Sources of Taste-Based Discrimination Using List Experiments," IZA Discussion Papers 17976, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Sansone, Dario, 2021. "Cigarette taxes and smoking among sexual minority adults," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Mourelatos, Evangelos, 2023. "Does Mood affect Sexual and Gender Discrimination in Hiring Choices? Evidence from Online Experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Billur Aksoy & Ian Chadd & Boon Han Koh, 2022. "(Anticipated) Discrimination against Sexual Minorities in Prosocial Domains," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2021-08, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    11. Samuel Mann & Nigel O’Leary & David Blackaby, 2022. "Sexual orientation, political trust, and same-sex relationship recognition policies: evidence from Europe," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 192(3), pages 331-355, September.
    12. Brahma, Sanjukta & Gavriilidis, Konstantinos & Kallinterakis, Vasileios & Verousis, Thanos & Zhang, Mengyu, 2023. "LGBTQ and finance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. Graves, Jennifer & Trond, Christopher, 2024. "Employment discrimination and labor market protections for sexual minorities in Brazil," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Cameron Deal & Shea Greenberg & Gilbert Gonzales, 2024. "Sexual identity, poverty, and utilization of government services," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 1-31, June.
    15. Sansone, Dario, 2019. "LGBT students: New evidence on demographics and educational outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    16. Han, Jiajun & Zhang, Yuan, 2025. "Education and tolerance towards Homosexuality—Evidence from China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    17. Shishir Roy, 2024. "Gender gap in poverty biased by caste in India: an empirical analysis," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 26(3), pages 759-797, December.
    18. Riccardo Ciacci & Dario Sansone, 2023. "The impact of sodomy law repeals on crime," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2519-2548, October.
    19. Sugiyama, Yuri, 2022. "Can Soft Law Improve the Welfare of Sexual Minorities? The Case of Same-sex Partnership Policy in Japan," CEI Working Paper Series 2022-06, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    20. Drydakis, Nick & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2020. "Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Labour Market Outcomes: New Patterns and Insights," GLO Discussion Paper Series 627, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:125926. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.