Gays Losing Support of Younger People?

[Lucky]

This poll, purporting to measure levels of support for gays among diverse demographic groups, shows that younger people, particullarly women, are less supportive of gays than previously shown.

Is there truly a decline? If so, not good news for Pride month at the least!

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/24/lgbtq-acceptance-millennials-decline-glaad-survey/1503758001/

[kjun12]

Wow!  I surely hope that this article is not an accurate assessment of where things are going.

Edited June 30, 2019 by kjun12

[stevenkesslar]

Assuming that polling is accurate, these two articles might help to put those results about young people being "uncomfortable" in context:

We asked US voters about their views on transgender people. Here's what they said.

The gender-fluid generation: young people on being male, female or non-binary

Quote

“I would be equally comfortable with a male or female body. My male personality is more outgoing than my female one. It’s like having both male and female energies and some days a mix of both,” Asturias says.

The student from Costa Rica is gender fluid, and doesn’t identify with one gender, instead fluctuating between feeling more male or female.

This is wild ass speculation on my part.  You'd have to focus group that 36 % or so that say they are uncomfortable with "LGBTQ" issues and ask them to explain to really find out what's going on - if it's anything other than a statistical blip.

But when I first read that article the first thing I thought of is the words "gender fluid".  The people who are in the middle of that, with their peers, are young people.  That's why I posted the Guardian article.  It is shifting the debate from "this is the way I was born" to "this is what I choose to be today".  That may be causing some discomfort.

One indicator is the poll data that shows a plurality think that Gays and Lesbians are "born that way".  Meanwhile, a plurality think transgender people "choose to live that way".

When asked to react "If your child were ......" about 40 % say they would "not be upset at all" if their child was Gay or Lesbian.  About 30 % say they would "not be upset at all" if their child was transgender.

My hunch is that the poll you cited, @Lucky, is measuring slightly different things as the debate changes.  Five years ago we were talking about same sex marriage.  Now we are talking about transgender bathrooms and whether you can be male one day and female the next.  Again, the rubber on these new issues is hitting the road mostly with younger people.

I would read this mostly as a sign of cultural tension and positive change.  Same thing we encountered a decade or two ago when we were pushing the limits about marrying the man we love.

And to be clear, none of this is intended as saying that we shouldn't be pushing the limits in different ways.  The good news to me is that the lines have really shifted around comfort levels.  The polls on questions like same sex marriage just keep getting better.  So my guess is that if there is a reaction, it is around the "next wave" of issues.  And even on those, as the polls in that Vox article indicate, the public is mostly on the side of LGBTQ issues.  The bathroom issue is the dividing line today.

Funny to think about that, isn't it?  These days if Mayor Pete walked into a john with his husband Chasten, people would feel totally comfortable and want a selfie.  It would only be if he walked into the bathroom with his transgender soldier wife that people might feel a bit freaked out.  Go figure!