Out and loud? LGBT representation in the parliamentary arena

For years, legislative scholars have analysed how social and political minorities express their interests on the parliamentary floor. Many studies have explored how women, migrants or ethnic minorities are represented, whether by members of their own groups or by the majority. However, few have investigated the political representation of the LGBT+ community within legislative bodies, especially in a comparative context. This chapter introduces a new research avenue by employing quantitative text analysis to examine the relationship between the growing number of openly LGBT+ representatives and their advocacy for community interests during legislative debates. Firstly, we propose a multilingual dictionary to identify speeches on LGBT+ issues in parliament. We then demonstrate that LGBT+ representation increases with the presence of LGBT+ legislators. Additionally, we find differences across parties, rhetorical styles, and among LGBT and heterosexual legislators. Our empirical analysis focuses on Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom from the early 1990s to the early 2020s.