Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Gender Ideology and LGBTQ+ Lobby Conspiracies Scale (GILC): Evidence from a Chilean Sample

Conspiracy beliefs targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals have attracted increasing attention in social and political psychology due to their role in prejudice, social exclusion, and resistance to social change. Despite growing interest in this phenomenon, validated instruments for assessing LGBTQ+-related conspiracy beliefs in Spanish-speaking populations remain limited. The present study aimed to adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Gender Ideology and LGBTQ+ Lobby Conspiracies Scale (GILC) in a Chilean sample. A total of 611 participants completed the instrument. Evidence based on internal structure was examined using parallel analysis, psychometric network analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and measurement invariance testing across sex assigned at birth. Evidence based on relations with external variables was assessed through sociodemographic characteristics, religiosity, political orientation, and generic conspiracy beliefs. Results consistently supported a predominantly unidimensional structure. The CFA showed that the original one-factor model achieved satisfactory fit after incorporating two theoretically meaningful residual correlations. In addition, the scale demonstrated configural, metric, and scalar invariance across sex assigned at birth. GILC scores were positively associated with generic conspiracy beliefs, religiosity, age, and right-wing political orientation. Overall, the findings provide support for the validity of the Spanish version of the GILC and suggest that it constitutes a useful tool for studying LGBTQ+-related conspiracy beliefs in Spanish-speaking contexts.