(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . New survey reveals much greater acceptance for LGBTQ+ folks since 1985 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-08 In this month of Pride it becomes important to counter the wave of negative anti-LGBTQ+ news coming out of the media these days, and the news about public perceptions of LGBTQ+ people is much more positive than the Right would have us believe. In 1985 the LA Times, along with the National Opinion Research Center at University of Chicago, conducted a survey of public attitudes towards gay and lesbian people. And in January of this year a similar survey was conducted but this time added questions about transgender, bisexual and non-binary people. The results should not be surprising for anyone who identifies liberal, Democrat, or non-religious. In fact the polling results consistently show a partisan divide in public perceptions of LGBTQ+ people. In their press release, NORC and the LA Times announced “Gay and lesbian people experience greater acceptance today than in 1985, including gains in politics, home, and the workplace.” The study finds that a lot has changed since 1985 in the way society views gay and lesbian people. Today, 77% of U.S. adults say they know someone who is LGBTQ+ while 72% know someone who is gay or lesbian compared with just a quarter in 1985. While 67% of adults believed that sexual relations between adults of the same sex was always wrong in 1985, today 64% do not see it as an issue. Seventy-seven percent of US adults say they know someone who is LGBTQ+. This is huge and speaks to a tremendous shift in public attitudes towards LGBTQ+ and explains why the right wing is freaking out about it and writing so many anti-LGBTQ+ laws while attacking books with LGBTQ+ themes. Meanwhile, the SPLC has announced a 33% rise in anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups in the past YEAR alone. However despite the vast improvement in public perceptions over the past 40 years, transgender and non-binary people are specifically exempted from these results. The gay and lesbian community has made strides since 1985, but they still face some obstacles in many ways. But the transgender and nonbinary community have an even tougher time. Though 34% of adults would be very or somewhat upset if they had a child who were gay, lesbian, or bisexual, 48% would be upset if they had a child who was transgender or nonbinary. Thirty-one percent of the public disapprove of transgender and nonbinary adults living their lives as they wish while about a fifth feel the same about gay, lesbian, or bisexual adults. Nineteen percent would be less likely to vote for a gay or lesbian candidate for Congress, but 33% say they would be less likely to vote for a transgender or nonbinary candidate. This is largely due to the fact that trans and non-binary people have only become more visible in the past decade whereas gay and lesbian people have been visible for much longer. It’s also very clear that the demonization of trans and non-binary people in the media are having a negative effect. Despite this, however, 77% of survey respondents agree with the statement “Issues related to transgender and non-binary people are mostly used by elected officials as a distraction from more pressing priorities,” so that is a positive outlook for those of us who are concerned about the relentless assault upon transgender and non-binary civil rights. The NORC/LA Times survey also breaks out attitudes by political and religious affiliation. Not surprisingly, the survey finds that Republicans are less tolerant of LGBTQ+ people than Democrats, with only 19% of Republicans approving of same-sex marriage as compared to 61% of Democrats. Protestants were less tolerant than Catholics with 36% of Protestants considering same-sex relationships as being wrong whereas 20% of Catholics hold the same attitudes. The NORC/LA Times poll was conducted with 1,624 adults nationwide of whom 313 identify as LGBTQ+. For a deeper dive into the survey results please check out my longer article on WokeAF, which you can read for free or sign up for a paid subscription if you want to support my writing. I might even bake you some cookies! A kitten just because wokeaf.substack.com/… [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/8/2245581/-New-survey-reveals-much-greater-acceptance-for-LGBTQ-folks-since-1985?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/