Turns out, Barbieland isn't as gay as s queer fans had hoped

Contents:

• OP-ED: WHAT WE REALLY MEAN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ACCEPTANCE OF GAY PEOPLE
• ACCEPTANCE OF GAYS SOCIETY VARI WILY
• TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED

OP-ED: WHAT WE REALLY MEAN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ACCEPTANCE OF GAY PEOPLE

Thirteen votg members of the 118th Congrs intify as lbian, gay or bisexual – the hight number of openly LGB members history.

A random sample of more than 1, 000 Amerins adults is asked whether “gay or lbian relatns” between nsentg adults are “morally acceptable or morally wrong. My rearch has brought me face-to-face wh the heterosexual rints of urban gay districts, or “gayborhoods, ” of big Amerin ci.

ACCEPTANCE OF GAYS SOCIETY VARI WILY

I’ve learned how fe the le is between progrs and prejudice, and how broad statistics about public opn nceal the subtle forms of discrimatn that now routely surface between gay and straight neighbors.

The majory of the straight people that I’ve spoken wh durg my rearch said that they supported gay civil rights, felt a mon humany wh gay people (“we’re all jt people”) and had posive views about the tegratn of gay spac the cy (gayborhoods are “welg, ” “clive, ” and “open” environments where we n all “thrive together, ” I was told). Many of my terviewe who scribed themselv as “liberal” and “acceptg” of homosexualy remaed apathetic about the and nsequenc of social equaly. (Some also claimed to live among a “diverse” populatn, even though their lol gayborhood lacked racial or ethnic diversy.

)Some straight people saw themselv as “gay-bld, ” much like a whe person might say that she is “lorbld” toward race and racial discrimatn. But to say that beg gay is a “nonfactor” is strategic for straights; allows them to exempt themselv om polil engagement and material support. When I asked about this trend, a straight man told me that gays and lbians should “be happy” about , rather than focg so much on prejudice, discrimatn and equaly.

TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED

When I prsed straight rints to talk about ways anti-gay discrimatn persists — thgs like hate crim or hog discrimatn — I was told to “get over . Their sentiments reflected a much larger pattern that has also been ptured by the Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn. ” In a 2015 study that went more -pth on same-sex marriage, GLAAD also found:34% of heterosexual Amerins are unfortable attendg a same-sex weddg;43% are unfortable brgg a child to a same-sex weddg;36% percent are unfortable seeg same-sex upl hold bee straight people fd gays “morally acceptable” and even move to their neighborhoods do not mean that their prejudice is gone; jt tak subtler forms.

Progrsive straights say they support “diversy” and “equaly” — but they e those terms to mean an improvement gay-straight relatns, not actual improvement the liv of LGBTQ are mistaken if we terpret — or celebrate — straight people movg to gay neighborhoods as evince that we have ma signifint stris toward equaly.