Poll shows US public support for LGBTQ+ protections falling for first time since 2015 ( www.theguardian.com )

New survey suggests decline has strong correlation between Christian nationalism and opposition to inclusive policies

Public support for same-sex marriage and nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans has fallen, even as the overall share remains high, according to new findings by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute.

Broad majorities of Americans, regardless of political party or faith, continue to support LGBTQ+ rights and protections, the analysis found. But after years of rising public support, the decline is notable, said Melissa Deckman, CEO of the PRRI.

The survey analyzed Americans’ attitudes toward LGBTQ+ rights across three policies: same-sex marriage, nondiscrimination protections and religion-based service refusals. It found support for all three measures had softened for the first time since the PRRI began tracking views of the issues nearly a decade ago.

While the “vast majority of Americans continue to endorse protections for LGBTQ Americans”, Deckman said the results may serve as a “warning sign” for those working to safeguard the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans amid a conservative legislative and legal effort to erode them.

Theprogressivist ,
@Theprogressivist@lemmy.world avatar

Centrists will really be the end of us.

homesweethomeMrL ,

Firstly, this is a poll. Remember, polls are bullshit.

Secondly, this is the Public Religion Research Institute. Made possible by a grant from the Unitarian church. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, just that that’s the case)

Thirdly, follow the link to the poll to see breakdowns like, “ Strong majorities of Americans — including most people of faith — support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals, but overall support has declined.” Do you use the term “people of faith”? No? Why or why not? That’s the third point against.

Fourthly, it’s a relatively large sample size, 22k, compared to the 800-2000 we usually see, using the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. Ostensibly a good thing. Link is at the bottom of the survey page. KP, for short, is an online poll. People get a random letter in the physical, postal mail. The letter says “Hi (your name here) we’re a super respectable polling agency who’d like to make money off your opinions” and includes a special seekrit password to “let” you sign up. So all the respondents did that. Would you do that?

Then, weeks or months (or years?) later you (as a KnowledgePanel Invitee extraordinaire) get a random email that says “go online and give us your opinion on ‘matters of faith’” (i’m just making that up, but they could have used that language)

Then, Fifthly, people went online to share their real honest and true thoughts about LGBTQIA+ protections and other matters “of faith”. Does being online skew people’s opinions? You’d always answer online as you would face-to-face wouldn’t you?

Okay, that’s all I got.

Omegamanthethird ,
@Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world avatar

"Moderate" conservatives don't give a shit. If their neighbors are anti-LGBTQ, then they think it must not be that bad to be anti-LGBT. They would rather not support LGBTQ, especially when it doesn't affect their lives directly, than be considered not Republican.

admiralteal ,

The moderate/centrist position between "kill the gays" and "don't permit the killing of gays" is "kill some of the gays."

That's all there is to it. If you are a moderate on this issue, you're a violent bigot.

gamermanh ,
@gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

The moderate/centrist position

Soooooo tired of people incorrectly simplifying what a centrist would believe by taking the extreme ends and picking the exact middle stance. That's almost never how you get to a centrist view and it's a great way to ostracize them.

A centrist on gay rights likely sees that marriage is legal, culturally it's acceptable, so why should they fight for more rights, they're already equal?

I don't agree with this stance, but you'll notice it's not a "violent bigot" stance, just an ignorant one.

psvrh ,
@psvrh@lemmy.ca avatar

Which is true, but the apparent centrists give oxygen to the extremist position, which in turns gives that extremist view false legitimacy.

The very existence of centrism on this topic implies that there's some kind of queer supremacy movement that has anything like the traction in popular culture that homophobia and transphobia have, which isn't the case. There's no centrist position, here, there's a humanist position, and then there's a pack of retrograde bigots and the grifters that are weaponizing them, and as soon as centrists recognize that and start outright condemning these people and their views, the better.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

The changes were largely driven by a shift in conservative attitudes toward LGBTQ+ protections.

Slightly fewer Republicans said they favored laws protecting LGBTQ+ Americans from discrimination in 2023 than did in 2015, despite rising support in the intervening years. The decline was especially notable between 2022, when two in three Republicans backed such protections, and 2023, when the share dropped to roughly six in 10.

So despite the combined statistic, this is really just the right-wing doubling down on extremism. Those that had moderated social views seem to be following the toxic leaders who have made abusing LGTBQ+ people as their pet "two minutes of hate" project.

dumpsterlid ,

Centrist gonna centrist, even when it comes to blindly deciding how much to hate someone for no fucking good reason.

kescusay ,
@kescusay@lemmy.world avatar

It's the constant, incessant, and deranged attacks on trans people and drag queens. The sociopaths in charge of the Republican party have figured out that attacking them is a good way to keep their supporters frothing - and keep the money coming in.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, but how do you go from "queer people deserve the same rights as I do" to "no they don't?"

psvrh ,
@psvrh@lemmy.ca avatar

There's a psychological phenomenon, a cascade effect, that causes people's perceptions to flip if enough people around them also change their minds.

It's not nefarious, or a sign of stupidity or ignorance, it's part of how social primates like humans work. And it's something that the Right knows to work, and is exploiting.

It's how we got LGBTQ rights, and it's how we'll lose them if we, and especially the media, don't stop giving these troglodytes and their ideas oxygen.

Anyone who tells you that if we just educate people it'll make a difference ( it won't, cf the Backfire Effect) and that "sunshine is the best disinfectant" is either woefully ignorant of how humans work, or is actively disingenuous.

Tl;dr radical centrists are paving stones on the path to He'll.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Phil Ochs knew that all the way back in 1966. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azdlpIy7oaQ

Edit: Unfortunately, that song slurs lesbians. Oh well.

IWantToFuckSpez ,

Ask the “Drop the T” homos and lesbos. They think giving trans people rights means it will infringe on their rights.

It’s the same train of thought as privileged white people who don’t want to treat non-whites as equals.

kescusay ,
@kescusay@lemmy.world avatar

Most of those guys are right-wingers trolling in an attempt to sow division.

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