2025/07/28 by Wenrong Cui, Yan Bing Zhang, Xiaoxia Li · 1 voice
Psychology · Social Sciences · #LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy #Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology #Sports, Gender, and Society
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/21674795251363157
openalex publication_date 2025/07/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/30
Guided by framing theory (FT) and moral foundations theory (MFT), this study investigated Chinese Weibo users’ social media posts ( N = 598) about LGBTQ + athletes, focusing on: (1) the prevalent valence of the posts about LGBTQ + athletes, (2) the dominant moral frames of the posts, (3) sources of information and views conveyed in the posts, and (4) the associations among the key variables. Results revealed that more than half of the posts (60.7%) expressed negative views toward LGBTQ + athletes, frequently invoking the Fairness/Cheating dimension. The negative posts primarily referenced peer/other users’ perspectives (27.3%) or no sources (59.2%) to account for the cited information or expressed views, often using personal anecdotes. The positive posts (22.2%) about LGBTQ + athletes mainly highlighted the Care/Harm moral dimension. Our findings revealed the prevalence of negative frames, where users relied on personal and peer-driven narratives, making moral appeals to unfairness or harm of LGBTQ + athletes, especially transgender athletes, to women athletes, sports, and society. Our study extends FT and MFT to a new sociocultural context, demonstrates the relevance of moral foundations for understanding social media expressions of the LGBTQ + community, and offers practical insights.