Photo courtesy of Renee Cramer
BY DRAKE RHONE
Twenty-five students and faculty members met in Sussman Theater Monday night. They met with the authors of the book “Listen, We Need to Talk,” to discuss how to change opinions about LGBT rights.
The authors, Dr. Brian F. Harrison from Northwestern University and Dr. Melissa R. Michelson from Menlo College, said that their research originated when they saw how public opinion on issues relating to LGBT rights was shifting. They said they started speculating on the cause of this shift.
The bulk of the talk was focused on their hypothesis that opinions about a topic, such as marriage equality, could be changed by using a leader in a group that an individual identifies with to ‘cue’ the target belief in that person. Harrison said that this tactic could be used to promote equality at Drake.
“Drake students believe in equality,” Harrison said. “Drake students believe in inclusion. It’s a value that we all share. That can move people forward in a variety of things. Not just LGBT rights but other things as well.”
Harrison gave an example. People could remind others that Iowa was one of the first states to allow marriage equality in the country.
“(We say), ‘We’re a place that values the rights of small minority groups,’” Harrison said. “Anything to sort of cue a common identity in inclusion could be really powerful.”
Michelson said she believes a problem in America right now is that no one is really talking about these issues with the other side.
“For regular people like Drake students, the application of this is to talk about this sort of thing with people and maybe bring in elite cues or maybe just share your opinion with people,”
Michelson said. “Don’t be afraid to talk about contentious politics. Don’t cut yourself off. You’ve probably seen how we’re all dividing ourselves into red and blue camps, and we don’t talk to each other. We’re just getting more and more insulated in our little bubbles.”
Michelson said change won’t come without that dialogue occurs.
“Nobody’s minds are going to change if we don’t talk to each other,” Michaelson said. “We’re encouraging people to not do that. Talk to each other. Break through the bubble. Maybe you’ll change someone’s mind or maybe your mind will change.”
During the talk, the two authors presented their successes and failures in testing their various theories during the research phase of the book. They then fielded questions from the audience about their book and strategies, as well as giving advice to a few of the audience members on how to change public opinion in their own communities.
While the authors spoke heavily of their identity cue process, they said that the strategy may not work for all issues, and they are finding new ways to affect opinions while writing their next book on transgender rights.
“Our theory on LGBT rights doesn’t necessarily work on transgender rights,” Harrison said. “So we’re developing some new strategies that we think will be better at cuing support for transgender rights. We think that frankly the transgender identity is misunderstood. People don’t have enough information. A lot of people are just viscerally uncomfortable with transgender people, so talking about what you have in common probably isn’t going to work.”
To make any significant change, Harrison said more than one group has to employ these various strategies to be successful.
“I think that the burden of attitude change shouldn’t only be on the group that wants rights,” Harrison said. “Minority groups can’t just expect that their group can change policy. You need people that aren’t in that group to speak out. We can’t only speak out for rights that affect us and people like us, we have to think about other groups and reach out to other groups to say rights for other groups are important to.”
Michelson agreed with Harrison on this point.
“Rights for transgender people, rights for Muslims, those are small populations,” Michelson said. “The idea is that the burden shouldn’t be on groups to fight for their own rights, they need allies.”