In the Age of Trump: New Report Shows Acceptance of LGBT People Drops

GLAAD Reports ‘A Significant Decline’

The age of Trump has ushered in a drop in the acceptance of LGBTQ people by Americans along with a dramatic double-digit increase in reports of anti-LGBTQ discrimination, according to a new Harris Poll commissioned by GLAAD. 

This is GLAAD’s fourth annual Accelerating Acceptance report and the first to find that fewer Americans say they are comfortable with LGBTQ people in public, in schools, and in places of worship.

“Less than half of non-LGBTQ adults (49 percent) reported being ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ comfortable with LGBTQ people across seven situations. This is a significant decline from 53 percent last year and the first time the Accelerating Acceptance report has shown a drop in acceptance for LGBTQ people,” GLAAD notes.

According to the poll, taken in November of 2017, three in ten Americans (30%) now say they are very or somewhat uncomfortable with learning a family member is LGBT, up from 27% over the prior two years. 

More than one-third of Americans (37%) say they are uncomfortable with learning their child has a lesson on LGBT history in school, up from 34% in 2016. 

31% say they would be uncomfortable learning their doctor is LGBT, or their child had an LGBT teacher, a 3-point increase over the prior year.

And 31% of Americans say they are uncomfortable seeing a same-sex couple holding hands, up from 29% in 2016.

Reports of anti-LGBT discrimination have increased significantly.

55% of those surveyed say they experienced sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination. That’s an increase of 11 points, up from 44% over 2016.

“In the past year, there has been a swift and alarming erosion of acceptance which can only be fought by being visible and vocal,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This report puts numbers to the bias that too many LGBTQ Americans have recently experienced. GLAAD is fighting the rollback by enlisting philanthropic leaders like the Ariadne Getty Foundation and global changemakers attending the World Economic Forum to use their platforms and move our community forward.”

Image by Alan Light via Flickr and a CC license