Can invoking gay rights normalize exclusionary attitudes?

How do radical-right wing positions become normalized? This paper investigates if framing an issue as protecting gay rights can lead to higher tolerance for radical right-wing positions. We test this by conducting large-scale, pre-registered vignette experiments across five European countries. In the experiment, we vary the following things: whether an anti-Islam position is presented through a gay rights frame, if the sender of the message is in a same-sex relationship, and the gender and party affiliation of the sender. We find that gay rights frames significantly boost tolerance and support for anti-Islam positions. Who delivers the gay rights message is less important: even politicians in different-sex relationships benefit from invoking gay rights to normalise anti-Islam views. 
These results showcase the potency of invoking liberal values as a cheap normalisation strategy. Political actors can use liberal values like gay rights to normalise exclusionary ideas, even without any signals of substantive or symbolic commitment to the underlying liberal value.