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.
Maybe overall, maybe, but there are a quiet number of us who went from “ah, they’re okay” to “don’t you fuck with these beautiful people,” and I know this because I’m one of them, and not the only one.
When LGBTQIA+ visibility and rights were on the rise and growing, I thought it was great, but I also believed it had nothing to do with me because I’m cis/het.
But I’m also a student of history, so when certain right wingers got emboldened to be openly hateful – and bizarrely so, like JK Rowling and her nonsensical TERF shit: “you, but NOT you” wtf? – and then the right wing started going after anyone not explicitly cis/het with ANYTHING they could find, finally getting to the point of criminalization of trans people’s actual existence in places like Florida, I had zero doubt about where we were headed, and I WILL NOT PARTICIPATE.
I’ve known the destination all along, and so has anyone who tracked the process of pre-WWII Germany into authoritarianism, as well as anyone who ever had a burning need to know how a country could go from a truly laissez-faire democracy to concentration camps. Germany was where the first successful trans operations were done in the 20s, and the first place trans people were thrown into concentration camps a decade or so later. It’s not a secret.
But this is not who I am, it is not what I stand for, and I will NOT be a part of that. So now I am fiercely PRO LGBTQIA+, and the right wing has itself to thank for that. I want you to live, and to prosper, and to enjoy the same rights as anyone else, and to know that at least some of us recognize that your lives are worth as much as our own.
When Team Ovens shows up for a rematch with Team Humanity, if one of us is not safe, none of us are safe. And we’re there. It’s happening.