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New GLAAD Study Shows Decline in LGBTQ Acceptance In 18-34 Year Olds

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Days before the nation’s 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the start of WorldPride in New York, a new study is measuring American attitudes toward LGBTQ people – and the results aren’t stellar.

On Monday, GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer media advocacy organization, announced the findings of its fifth annual Accelerating Acceptance Index. The national survey among U.S. adults was conducted on GLAAD’s behalf by The Harris Poll. The Index measures American attitudes toward LGBTQ people.

The percentage of non-LGBTQ adults reporting being “very” or “somewhat” comfortable with LGBTQ people across seven scenarios remained stable (49%) after a significant decline last year (49% “very” or “somewhat” comfortable in the 2018 report versus 53% in the 2017 report).

Importantly, however, this year’s Index found the number of young Americans ages 18-34 who are comfortable across all seven scenarios dropped from 53% to 45%, the second consecutive year that this age group has shown a drop.

The Index also comes amidst a number of high profile incidents of anti-LGBTQ violence, which GLAAD has documented here. Reported hate crimes in America rose 17%, the third consecutive year that such crimes increased, according to data released by the FBI in 2018.

The Accelerating Acceptance Index was conducted online earlier this year among a national sample of 1,970 US adults, 18 or over, who were presented with seven situations that were selected by GLAAD and The Williams Institute in 2015. They include: learning a family member is LGBT, learning my doctor is LGBT, having LGBT members at my place of worship, seeing a LGBT co-worker’s wedding picture, having my child placed in a class with a LGBT teacher, seeing a same-sex couple holding hands, and learning my child has a lesson on LGBT history in school.

By combining responses to these situations, the annual Index provides insight into the rate at which non-LGBTQ Americans accept LGBTQ people.

How Comfortable are Americans with LGBTQ People?

  • This year, nearly half of non-LGBTQ adults (49%) are classified as ‘allies’ in the Index, meaning they responded that they were ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ comfortable with LGBTQ people across all of the seven situations. This is has not changed from the 49% reported in 2018, which was down from 53% the year prior.
  • 38% of non-LGBTQ adults are classified as ‘detached supporters’, whose comfort levels varies across the seven scenarios. 13% are classified as ‘resisters’ and are not comfortable in any of the situations that were presented. The percentage of ‘resisters’ has been stable since the start of the Accelerating Acceptance Index.
  • The only age group to post a decline this year was young Americans ages 18-34. The number of non-LGBTQ U.S. adults ages 18-34 who reported being ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ comfortable across all seven situations dropped from 53% to 45%. This reflects a continued erosion in comfort among this age group over the past two years.  This year, the significant erosion is being driven by females ages 18-34, where comfort levels fell from 64% last year to 52% this year.
  • In total, 18% of respondents report knowing a transgender person; 31% know a bisexual person; 75% know a gay or lesbian person.

Young People are More Uncomfortable with LGBTQ People in Personal Situations:

  • More young people ages 18-34 responded that they were ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ uncomfortable in three personal scenarios including learning a family member is LGBT (36% uncomfortable in the 2019 report vs. 29% in the 2018 report); learning my doctor is LGBT (34% vs. 27%); and learning my child had a lesson on LGBT history in their school (39% vs. 30%).
  • 43% of males ages 18-34 reported that they were uncomfortable learning a family member is LGBT (up from 32% in 2018) and 42% of males ages 18-34 reported that they were uncomfortable learning their child’s teacher is LGBT (up from 37% in 2018).
  • 40% of females ages 18-34 reported that they were uncomfortable learning their child had a lesson on LGBT history in school, an increase of 13 percentage points from the previous year’s findings.

8 out of 10 Americans Support Equal Rights for LGBTQ People for Third Consecutive Year:

  • GLAAD and The Harris Poll found that support for equal rights is stable. The majority of non-LGBTQ Americans (80%) support equal rights for the LGBTQ community. This particular statistic has been consistent since 2016.
  • 12% of the survey reported to be LGBTQ. In order to be more inclusive than other surveys, GLAAD includes a more expansive number of sexual orientations and gender identities to select from.

“Last year, when we saw an erosion in LGBTQ acceptance, GLAAD doubled down on our formula for making positive culture change,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “The sharp and quick rise in divisive rhetoric both in politics and in culture is now having a negative influence on younger Americans and coinciding with an alarming pattern of anti-LGBTQ violence and discrimination. As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, LGBTQ people and allies must urgently address today’s cultural crisis by being visible and vigilant.”

“We typically see in our surveys that younger Americans can be counted on to advocate for issues like gender equality, immigration and climate change,” said John Gerzema, CEO of The Harris Poll. “So it is surprising to see a notable erosion of acceptance for the LTBTQ community, which counters many of the assumptions we make about their values and beliefs. In this toxic age, tolerance––even among youth––now seems to be parsed out. Nothing today should be taken for granted.”

Read the full report and learn more about the data collection methods here: glaad.org/acceptance.

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LGBT

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine Vetoes Anti-Trans Bill After Talking to Families With Trans Kids

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Mike DeWine

Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio became only the second Republican to ever veto a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors. He made his decision after traveling to children’s hospitals and talking to families that would be affected by the bill.

DeWine vetoed the bill, Sub. H.B. No. 68, Friday morning. Not only would the bill ban transgender athletes from competing on teams matching their gender expression, the AP reports, it also would stop trans kids from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy or gender-alignment surgeries—even though the last of these is extremely rare in minors.

DeWine told the AP last week that he had just been to three children’s hospitals in the state to learn more about the realities of trans health care for minors. He also spoke to families with trans youth, according to NBC News.

READ MORE: Federal Judge Issues Injunction on Idaho Anti-Trans Law Days Before It Takes Effect

“We’re dealing with children who are going through a challenging time, families that are going through a challenging time,” DeWine told the AP. “I want, the best I can, to get it right.”

After vetoing the bill, he said that decisions about gender-affirming care “should not be made by the government,” but families and doctors, NBC News reported.

“This bill would impact a very small number of Ohio’s children,” DeWine said Friday, according to Axios. “But for those children who face gender dysphoria and for their families, the consequences of this bill could not be more profound.”

Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is the only other Republican governor to veto a similar bill banning gender-affirming care for minors. Hutchinson, who is also running for the presidential nomination for his party, vetoed the bill in April 2021, telling NPR he thought it was “too extreme.”

“It was too broad, and it did not grandfather in those young people who are currently under hormone treatment. And so this really puts a very vulnerable population in a more difficult position. It sends the wrong signal to them,” Hutchinson told the radio network at the time.

“But also in my veto, I wanted to say to my Republican friends and colleagues that we’ve got to rethink our engagement in every aspect of the cultural wars,” he added. “The Republican Party that I grew up with believed in a restrained government that did not jump in the middle of every issue.”

Unfortunately, Hutchinson’s veto was overridden by the Arkansas legislature. A similar fate may await DeWine’s veto. Ohio’s legislature has a Republican supermajority, and only one Republican, Senator Nathan Manning of Northeast Ohio, voted against the bill when it was initially passed, according to the AP. State senators need a three-fifths majority to overturn the veto.

 

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Rep. Tim Walberg Tells Uganda to ‘Stand Firm’ on ‘Kill The Gays’ Law Ted Cruz Called ‘Horrific’

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Tim Walberg Uganda Kill The Gays Law

Representative Tim Walberg (R-MI) delivered a speech in Uganda to defend the country’s President Yoweri Museveni and the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, better known as the “Kill the Gays” law.

Walberg traveled to Uganda in October to attend a national prayer breakfast organized by the Fellowship Foundation, also known as The Family, which also covered the cost of his trip, according to TYT. In the speech, transcribed by the blog Take Care Tim, he told the attendees to “stand firm” in the face of criticism.

“Whose side do we want to be on? God’s side. Not the World Bank, not the United States of America necessarily, not the UN. God’s side,” Walberg said. “I think as we go on here, it says, ‘So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.’ – Who’s gonna do that? God is gonna do that. Your esteemed President, his excellency, President Museveni needs a nation that stands with him and says, though the rest of the world is pushing back on you, though there are other major countries that are trying to get into you and ultimately change you, stand firm. Stand firm.”

READ MORE: Mike Johnson Once Agreed to Speak at ‘Kill the Gays’ Pastor’s Conference – Until an NCRM Report

Walberg made it clear he knew his view would be unpopular in the United States.

“Now, this will probably get back to the national media in the United States, and I expect some pushback, but I’m not gonna give in to them. … I know that your President is a warrior. I like that about him. We’re in a battle, folks. We are in a battle,” he said.

Though Uganda has had homophobia enshrined in its legal code since it was a British protectorate, the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 is a drastic escalation. Previously, homosexuality was punished with life in prison, according to the Advocate. The new law allows the death penalty for those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.” It also bans “promotion of homosexuality,” much like Russia bans queer “propaganda”.

The law is so draconian that Republican Senator Ted Cruz—no ally to the queer communitycondemned it. In May, shortly after Museveni signed the law, Cruz called the law “horrific” on X, formerly Twitter.

This Uganda law is horrific & wrong. Any law criminalizing homosexuality or imposing the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ is grotesque & an abomination. ALL civilized nations should join together in condemning this human rights abuse. #LGBTQ,” Cruz tweeted.

Attempts to pass a similar bill to the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 started in 2014, with a bill also called the “Kill the Gays” law. That form of the bill was built by anti-LGBTQ activist Scott Lively, who previously claimed then-President Barack Obama was secretly gay.

While it didn’t go into effect then, the bill and ones like it kept popping up on Uganda’s parliamentary agenda. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden threatened to cut nearly $1 billion in annual aid to Uganda if the bill passed.

A previous version of this story credited Salon with the initial reporting; Salon had republished the article from TYT. The sourcing has been corrected; NCRM regrets the error.

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LGBT

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear Says He Won Election Due to GOP’s ‘Cruel’ Anti-Trans Campaign

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Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear told MSNBC host Jen Psaki on Monday that the one of the reasons he won reelection was due to the Republicans’ focus on anti-transgender rhetoric in campaign ads.

Earlier this month, Beshear won his reelection over Republican candidate Daniel Cameron with 52.5% of the vote to Cameron’s 47.5%. Beshear proved even more popular this year than when he was first elected in 2019 with 49.2% of the vote in a tight race with incumbent Matt Bevin.

“I will say, the way these Super PACS and my opponent went about their campaign was just mean, and it was gross, and it was cruel,” Beshear told Psaki. “And people don’t like that. That is not who we are, and this oughta be a message that you can’t scapegoat people just to get folks angry, and it’s wrong. Right?

READ MORE: ‘A Real Problem With Winning’: Right Wing Pundits Stunned by ‘Major Victories’ for Democrats

“Think about what some people are doing, trying to dehumanize other human beings. Trying to turn people against each other. To even foster hate and anger towards another American, here, another Kentuckian. And why? So you can elect one more person that has a certain letter behind their name? This can’t be right and left, some things have to be basic right and wrong.”

Republicans focused on Beshear’s veto of a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors, even in cases where a patient is already being treated. The bill also banned teachers from using trans students’ correct pronouns and from discussing gender and sexual identity.

At the time, Beshear said that the bill would “cause an increase in suicide among Kentucky’s youth” and that it “strips freedom from parents to make personal family decisions,” according to LGBTQ Nation. Despite Beshear’s concerns, the Kentucky General Assembly voted to override his veto.

Ads funded by the American Principles Project PAC made unfounded claims that Beshear would use the FBI to remove trans children from unsupportive parents, according to LGBTQ Nation. Other ads featured the former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines, who became an anti-trans activist after tying for fifth place in the 2022 NCAA freestyle championship with Lia Thomas, a trans woman.

Kentucky isn’t the only state to see notable losses by the GOP. Across the country, Republican candidates and policies were struck down at the polls. Ohio voters voted to put the right to abortion into the state constitution, Virginia voters flipped the House of Delegates blue and in many cities, far-right school board candidates lost.

 

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