Explaining unwelcoming attitudes toward LGBTQI+ festivals in Sibiu and their implications for regional cultural change

Abstract

This article examines the predictors of the unwelcoming attitude toward staging LGBTQI+ festivals in Sibiu, Romania. Building on recent insights on festivals as socially sustainable devices contributing to tourism and cultural changes and based on an original survey dataset, we use logistic regression to account for this negative view. Our findings indicate that gender, education, and religiosity are associated with the outcome variable. Men, respondents with up to lower secondary education, and people who self-identify as religious are more inclined to oppose LGBTQI+ festivals, whereas festivalgoers and respondents who have a positive attitude toward Roma festivals are less likely to hold negative views on LGBTQI+ festivals. Likewise, beliefs that the state shall regulate the cultural realm and that tourists contribute to a positive image of Sibiu are positively associated with the unwelcoming attitude toward LGBTQI+ festivals. These findings have policy implications for framing cultural changes in central Romania.