by Susan Miller
For the first time in four years, Americans are less accepting of LGBT people, a survey finds — a setback activists say is stunning but not unexpected after a turbulent 2017.
Fewer than half of non-LGBT adults — 49% — said they were “very” or “somewhat” comfortable around LGBT people in certain scenarios, according to the Accelerating Acceptance report released Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. That number was down from 53% in 2016.
The survey, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of LGBT media advocacy group GLAAD, reflects an about-face from positive momentum reflected in polls GLAAD has commissioned since 2014.
“We are surprised at the scale and the swiftness” in the erosion of tolerance in the course of one year, Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD president and CEO, told USA TODAY. “But if you are LGBT and living in America, you are seeing this every day.”
A Supreme Court case has profound implications for LGBT rights and religion's place in public life. The case pits a Denver-area gay couple against a baker who cited his Christian faith in refusing to make a cake for their wedding celebration. (Dec. 1) AP
In 2014, 30% of those surveyed said they were “very” or “somewhat” uncomfortable having their child placed in a class with an LGBT teacher. In 2015, that number dipped to 29%; in 2016, 28%. In 2017, it jumped to 31%.
More people in 2017 were also uncomfortable learning a family member or their doctor was LGBT, the survey shows.
The shift is unsettling fallout that began with the 2016 presidential election, Ellis said, and continued through the year with inflammatory rhetoric and policy rollbacks. The result: “a permission slip for discrimination and bias” that has permeated society, she said.
Among issues cited by GLAAD in 2017:
• LGBT content was scrubbed from White House, Department of State and Department of Labor websites shortly after the Inauguration.
• In February, the Justice and Education departments reversed guidance the Obama administration had issued that said Title IX protected the rights of transgender students to use facilities that match their gender identity.
• In July, President Trump proposed a ban on transgender people from serving in the military, a challenge that was eventually dropped by the administration.
• It was announced last week that the Department of Health and Human Services will create a division that shields health care workers who refuse to treat patients such as LGBT people because of religious beliefs.
Actions at the state level — such as a Mississippi law that lets government workers and private businesses cite religious beliefs to deny services to LGBT people — are equally disconcerting, the survey noted.
And there has been an increase in violence against the community — 52 hate-related homicides in 2017, an 86% increase over 2016, GLAAD says — and a significant uptick in reports of bias. Fifty-five percent of survey respondents said they experienced discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity, 11 percentage points higher than 2016.
The findings come one week after another study by think tank Movement Advancement Project that shows how a prevalence of discrimination in everyday routines disrupts daily lives. For example: 34% of LGBT people who encountered bias avoided public places such as shops and restaurants.
LGBT people have been under siege while issues such as immigration and health care have grabbed headlines, Ellis said. “We’ve been seeing this erosion happen very quietly and under the radar.”
Despite the lost ground, support for LGBT rights is stable, the GLAAD report shows: 79% of non-LGBT Americans back equal rights for the LGBT community, the same number as 2016.
That is not necessarily a disconnect, Ellis said. “Conceptually, we all believe in equality for everyone,” but there is a “misconception” that LGBT people already have full rights, she said.
Humanizing LGBT people before the public and the power centers could close the gap, Ellis said, and that was why GLAAD released its findings at the high-profile Davos forum.
“The study validates what LGBT people feel inside. I hear every day ‘it’s not like it used to be; I am nervous; I don’t feel safe anymore,’” Ellis said.
But attitudes can change by people telling their stories, she said.
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