Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale

Abstract

The Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men (ATLG) Scale is a widely utilized, brief psychological scale designed to measure the attitudes toward lesbians and gay men (ATLG) held by heterosexuals. Initially developed by Gregory M. Herek and Kevin A. McLemore, the original instrument featured 20 distinct statements, evenly divided into the Attitudes Toward Gay Men (ATG) and Attitudes Toward Lesbians (ATL) subscales. While the 20-item version established the measure, current recommendations favor the use of shorter, parallel forms—specifically 3, 4, or 5-item versions of the ATG and ATL subscales. These revised, shorter versions have demonstrated extremely high correlations (e.g., correlations greater than 0.95) with the original subscales, maintaining strong internal consistency and reliability across diverse populations and administration formats.

Keywords

ATLG, Homophobia, Sexual Prejudice, Attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, Heterosexuality, Social psychology, Sexual minorities, Psychological scale

Authors

Gregory M. Herek, Kevin A. McLemore

Purpose

The primary purpose of the ATLG Scale is to provide a concise and reliable quantitative measure of heterosexual individuals’ attitudes towards gay men and lesbians. The scale facilitates research into the nature, correlates, and predictors of sexual prejudice, allowing researchers to measure prejudice against gay men (ATG) and lesbians (ATL) separately, or as a combined index of general attitudes toward sexual minorities.

The development of parallel short forms (3, 4, or 5 items) was intended to increase the efficiency of data collection, particularly in large-scale surveys or when the scale is used alongside numerous other measures, without sacrificing the psychometric quality established by the original 20-item version.

Construct

The ATLG Scale measures the psychological construct of **sexual prejudice**, specifically targeting negative or positive attitudes held by heterosexuals toward gay men and lesbians. The instrument is fundamentally composed of two distinct but highly correlated subscales: the Attitudes Toward Gay Men (ATG) subscale and the Attitudes Toward Lesbians (ATL) subscale.

The scale assumes that attitudes toward the two groups may differ, although the recommended use of parallel forms ensures that cross-group comparisons are methodologically sound. Scores reflect the degree of agreement or disagreement with statements concerning the morality, acceptance, and lifestyle of gay men and lesbians. The ATLG is distinct from more complex, multidimensional measures of anti-gay prejudice as it focuses on core attitudinal components rather than specific components like contact or stereotyping.

Validity

The validity of the ATLG subscales is strongly supported by consistent correlations with numerous theoretically relevant constructs. Higher (more prejudiced) ATLG scores are reliably associated with several predictors of prejudice, including high levels of religiosity, limited interpersonal contact with gay men and lesbians, adherence to traditional gender-role attitudes, belief in a traditional family ideology, and public endorsement of policies that discriminate against sexual minorities.

Furthermore, the ATG scores specifically show reliable correlation with measures of AIDS-related stigma. Discriminant validity has been established through studies demonstrating that known groups exhibit expected score differences. For example, members of lesbian and gay organizations scored at the extreme positive (non-prejudiced) end of the scale, while non-student adults who publicly opposed gay rights initiatives scored significantly higher (more prejudiced) than those who publicly supported them (Herek, 1988, 1994).

Reliability

The ATLG subscales consistently demonstrate high levels of internal consistency, indicating that the items within each subscale reliably measure the same underlying construct. When administered as a self-report measure, the Cronbach’s alpha ($alpha$) typically exceeds 0.85 in samples of college students and remains above 0.80 for non-student adult samples.

In the context of oral administration via telephone surveys, the reliability remains acceptable, with 5-item versions achieving $alpha > .80$ and even the shortest 3-item versions achieving $alpha > .70$. Temporal stability has also been established; test-retest reliability using alternate forms has consistently resulted in correlations ($r$s) greater than 0.80 (Herek, 1988, 1994).

Factor Analysis

The ATLG scale is inherently structured around two factors: attitudes toward gay men (ATG) and attitudes toward lesbians (ATL). While the original 20-item version featured distinct wording for each subscale, modern usage emphasizes the use of **parallel forms** (e.g., the 5-item version shown below), where the same core items are presented once referencing gay men and once referencing lesbians. This parallel structure is recommended to ensure that scores on the ATG and ATL subscales are directly comparable, facilitating a clear understanding of whether a respondent holds differential attitudes based on the target’s sex.

The high correlation observed between the shorter, revised subscales and the original, longer subscales (up to $r > .95$) confirms that the abbreviated versions maintain the integrity of the original factor structure and underlying measurement domains.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological measure, specifically a measure of sexual prejudice.

Format: Likert-type scale. Visual administration uses 5-, 7-, or 9-point scales with anchors of “Strongly Disagree” and “Strongly Agree.” Oral administration typically uses four fixed response options (“Strongly Disagree,” “Disagree Somewhat,” “Agree Somewhat,” “Strongly Agree”), allowing for a volunteered middle response.

Language Available: English, Spanish, and translated versions used in Dutch, Portuguese (Brazil), and Turkish research.

Population Group: Heterosexual adults.

Age Group: Adults, including college students and non-student adult samples.

Population Details: Originally developed for English-speaking heterosexual adults in the United States, it has been successfully applied and validated in numerous international settings, including Canada, England, the Netherlands, Singapore, Brazil, Chile, and Turkey.

Test Methodology: Can be self-administered (paper or computer) or administered orally (telephone or face-to-face interviews). Completion time is estimated at 30–60 seconds per item.

Keywords

Sexual prejudice, ATLG, Attitudes, Heterosexism, Prejudice measurement, Psychometrics, Gregory Herek, Likert scale

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Contact information is available via the author’s university website.

Correspondence Address: Gregory Herek, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8686; e-mail through http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/Herek/

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Researchers are explicitly informed that they **need not obtain the author’s permission** to use the ATLG Scale in not-for-profit research, provided such use is consistent with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists. The foundational research and initial publication of the scale date back to 1988 (Herek, 1988).

Reference’s

• Cardenas, M., & Barrientos, J. (2008). The Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (ATLG): Adaptation and testing the reliability and validity in Chile. The Journal of Sex Research, 45, 140–149.
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• Herek, G. M. (1994). Assessing heterosexuals’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men: A review of empirical research with the ATLG scale. In B. Greene & G. M. Herek (Eds.), Lesbian and gay psychology: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 206–228). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Herek, G. M. (2002). Gender gaps in public opinion about lesbians and gay men. Public Opinion Quarterly, 66, 40–66.
• Herek, G. M. (2009). Sexual stigma and sexual prejudice in the United States: A conceptual framework. In D. A. Hope (Ed.), Contemporary perspectives on lesbian, gay and bisexual identities: The 54th Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (pp. 65–111). New York: Springer.
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Items of the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale

Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale, Revised 5-Item Version

Attitudes Toward Gay Men (ATG-R-S5) Subscale

1. Sex between two men is just plain wrong.*

2. I think male homosexuals are disgusting.*

3. Male homosexuality is a natural expression of sexuality in men.* (Reverse scored)

4. Male homosexuality is a perversion.

5. Male homosexuality is merely a different kind of lifestyle that should not be condemned. (Reverse scored)

Attitudes Toward Lesbians (ATL-R-S5) Subscale

1. Sex between two women is just plain wrong.*

2. I think female homosexuals (lesbians) are disgusting.*

3. Female homosexuality is a natural expression of sexuality in women.* (Reverse scored)

4. Female homosexuality is a perversion.

5. Female homosexuality is merely a different kind of lifestyle that should not be condemned. (Reverse scored)

*This item is included in the 3-item version (ATLG-R) of the subscale.

Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale: Spanish-Language Version

Attitudes Toward Gay Men (ATG)

1. Las relaciones sexuales entre dos hombres simplemente están mal. [Sex between two men is just plain wrong.]

2. Yo pienso que los hombres homosexuales son repugnantes. [I think that male homosexuals are disgusting.]

3. La homosexualidad masculina es una expresión natural de la sexualidad del hombre. [Male homosexuality is a natural expression of sexuality in men.]

4. La homosexualidad masculina es una perversión. [Male homosexuality is a perversion.]

Attitudes Toward Lesbians (ATL)

1. Las relaciones sexuales entre dos mujeres simplemente están mal. [Sex between two women is just plain wrong.]

2. Yo pienso que las lesbianas son repugnantes. [I think that lesbians are disgusting.]

3. La homosexualidad femenina es una expresión natural de la sexualidad de la mujer. [Female homosexuality is a natural expression of sexuality in women.]

La homosexualidad femenina es una perversión. [Female homosexuality is a perversion.]

Note. The Spanish-language version was adapted for use by Herek and Gonzales-Rivera (2006).