LGBTQ Acceptance Declines Among Young People

GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, today announced the findings of its fifth annual Accelerating Acceptance Index, a national survey among U.S. adults 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).

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.

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.

The seven scenarios were: 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.

Also from the report:

• Reported hate crimes in America rose 17 percent last year, the third consecutive year that such crimes increased, according to data released by the FBI in 2018.

• The majority of non-LGBTQ Americans (80%) support equal rights for the LGBTQ community. This particular statistic has been consistent since 2016.

Head over to GLAAD to read the full report here.