LGBTQ+
Definition
LGBTQ+ refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals, a historically minoritized group whose social standing in Western liberal democracies has shifted from criminalisation to public celebration within a relatively compressed historical period. That trajectory is not linear: the group has faced organized legislative pushback, illustrated by the 2023 declaration of a state of emergency by the Human Rights Campaign in response to a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ bills across U.S. state legislatures. Research tracking LGBTQ+ participants across five waves from 2017 to 2025 found that as perceived possibilities for progressive social change declined, indicators of minority identification, group satisfaction, collective efficacy, and desires to preserve identity all increased significantly. Stronger group identification buffered members against the negative emotional consequences of perceiving social decline, pointing to collective identity as a psychological resource rather than merely a demographic descriptor.
Sources: Morton & Salvatore (2026)
Related Terms
- perceptions of progressive social change (1 shared article)
- collective identification (1 shared article)
- identity vigilance (1 shared article)
Applications
LGBTQ+ and Minority Identity Consolidation
As perceptions of progressive social change declined across the 2017 to 2025 study period, LGBTQ+ participants showed measurable increases in group identification, group-based self-definition, and desires to preserve identity, all significant under Bonferroni correction. Path analyses confirmed that this identity consolidation mediated the relationship between perceived social decline and emotional and efficacy outcomes, such that stronger identification predicted more positive affect, higher collective efficacy, and greater group satisfaction. A brief reversal of these indirect effects coincided with the onset of the Biden presidency in 2021, suggesting the consolidation process responds to shifting political conditions.
Sources: Morton & Salvatore (2026)
LGBTQ+ and Perceived Possibility of Progressive Social Change
At the individual level, perceiving progressive change as more possible correlated with more positive emotions (r = .42) and fewer negative emotions (r = .37), but also with lower LGBTQ+ identification (r = .09) and weaker desires to preserve identity (r = .12). This inverse relationship between optimism about social change and identity salience suggests that favorable social perceptions reduce the motivational pressure to consolidate group membership. The sharpest rise in negative emotions across the study period coincided with the start of the second Trump presidency, reinforcing the sensitivity of these perceptions to concrete political events.
Sources: Morton & Salvatore (2026)
