LGBTQ+ Rights

More Americans Support LGBTQ+ People Than Right-Wing Media

New research proves that more people support the LGBTQ+ community than right-wing media will let audiences believe. 

Earlier this week LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization GLAAD published their Accelerating Acceptance 2023 report. The study was designed to uncover truths about LGBTQ+ acceptance from non-LGBTQ+ individuals within the United States. The findings within their report point to non-queer Americans supporting LGBTQ+ people and rights, dispelling the idea that anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is felt by the majority of Americans. 

The study showed that support of LGBTQ+ rights is at an all-time high, with 84% of respondents stating that they support LGBTQ+ rights. 91% of respondents believed that the LGBTQ+ community shouldn’t be discriminated against and have the freedom to live their life. Additionally, 96% of respondents agreed that schools should be safe havens and accepting places for all youth. 

The report also detailed that respondents had a substantial lack of understanding and familiarity with nonbinary and transgender people. 55% of respondents stated that they didn’t understand the composition of the LGBTQ+ community. To make matters worse, 50% of respondents were unfamiliar with nonbinary and transgender people, while 28% of respondents said that they personally knew a transgender person. This points to a lack of LGBTQ+ representation in the communities of the respondents and the media they consume.

This lack of awareness leads to a lack of understanding. This can lead to the development of biases that unfairly judge LGBTQ+ people, which can then turn into anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. That same sentiment is what fuels the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the United States, with the ACLU tracking 491 anti-LGBTQ+ bills within the country. 

But as GLAAD’s data shows, this anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation comes from hate-mongering conservatives who are in the minority on this. And while their voices are loud on conservative media outlets and on social media, their beliefs are nowhere near what the majority of the U.S. population believes. 

Check out the full report here.

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Tags: ACLU GLAAD
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