Hidn Bra: Ameri's Changg Attus Toward Gay People : NPR

Contents:

• LET’S SAY GAY
• AS A GAY MAN, I’LL NEVER BE NORMAL
• SHOULD GAY PEOPLE SEEK TO BE SEEN AS ‘NORMAL’?
• HIDN BRA: AMERI'S CHANGG ATTUS TOWARD GAY PEOPLE
• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• GAY RIGHTS ARE CIVIL RIGHTS

LET’S SAY GAY

The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey. Dpe major chang laws and norms surroundg the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opn on the acceptance of homosexualy society remas sharply divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment.

The study is a follow-up to a 2013 report that found many of the same patterns as seen today, although there has been an crease acceptance of homosexualy across many of the untri surveyed both years. However, while took nearly 15 years for acceptance to rise 13 pots om 2000 to jt before the feral legalizatn of gay marriage June 2015, there was a near equal rise acceptance jt the four years sce legalizatn.

This staggerg 56-pot difference exceeds the next largt difference Japan by 20 pots, where 92% and 56% of those ag 18 to 29 and 50 and olr, rpectively, say homosexualy should be accepted by society. In South Korea, for example, those who classify themselv on the iologil left are more than twice as likely to say homosexualy is acceptable than those on the iologil right (a 39-percentage-pot difference). In Spa, people wh a favorable opn of the Vox party, which recently has begun to oppose some gay rights, are much ls likely to say that homosexualy is acceptable than those who do not support the party.

AS A GAY MAN, I’LL NEVER BE NORMAL

And Poland, supporters of the erng PiS (Law and Jtice), which has explicly targeted gay rights as anathema to tradnal Polish valu, are 23 percentage pots ls likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted by society than those who do not support the erng party. But even untri like France and Germany where acceptance of homosexualy is high, there are differenc between supporters and non-supporters of key right-wg populist parti such as Natnal Rally France and Alternative for Germany (AfD).

In 25 of the 34 untri surveyed, those who say relign is “somewhat, ” “not too” or “not at all” important their liv are more likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted than those who say relign is “very” important. Though the opns of religly unaffiliated people n vary wily, virtually every untry surveyed wh a sufficient number of unaffiliated rponnts, “non” are more acceptg of homosexualy than the affiliated. Take the three people who were attacked as they were leavg a drag show Old Town Pasana, or the gay club Brooklyn that was set on fire, or the aths of two Black, transgenr women Chigo, at least one of which was led a murr (the other is still unr vtigatn).

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTPamela Bons /Visum, via RxLast month, the new print of the advocy group Human Rights Campaign, Kelley Robson, posted a six-and-a-half-mute vio to troduce herself and ame the missn of her anizatn, which was found 40 years ago by the gay activist Steve Enan to help fund polil mpaigns for pro-gay-rights ndidat. Q., ” which sometim clus addnal symbols and letters, reprents so many inti unrelated to sexual orientatn that gays and lbians n feel crowd week on “CBS News Sunday Morng, ” the wrer David Sedaris said he was done “fightg the word ‘queer. ” Another fn refers not only to gay people but also to “a person whose sexual orientatn or genr inty falls outsi the heterosexual mastream or the genr bary, ” acrdg to That uld mean “transgenr, ” “genr ntral, ” “nonbary, ” “agenr, ” “pangenr, ” “genrqueer, ” “misexual, ” “asexual, ” “two spir, ” “third genr” or all, none or some batn of the above.

SHOULD GAY PEOPLE SEEK TO BE SEEN AS ‘NORMAL’?

It uld mean you valiantly plowed through the prose of Judh Butler a urse on queerns the Elizabethan the broad spectm of possibily, ’s no surprise that many people — gay or straight — have no ia what means when someone self-intifi as this is important: Not all gay people see themselv as queer.

In the se of “queer, ” ’s pecially worrisome and not only bee superses wily accepted and unrstood terms but also bee the gay rights movement’s succs have historilly hged on efforts at people, lbians and bisexuals fought for a long time to be open and clear about who they are.

” The edian Bill Maher said on his show that by 2054, if we follow what he se as the current trajectory, “we will all be gay, ” addg that the rise the number of younger people intifyg as transgenr seemed spic. Bee of the fluence of Schorr put siarly Natnal Review: “To suggt that social suggtibily uld be playg a role the skyrocketg numbers of young girls’ exprsg their sire to bee mal, for example, is not of urse to say that gay and transgenr people would not exist whout the topics’ beg discsed the public square. A majory of churchgoers report hearg about homosexualy om their clergy: 55% of those who attend servic at least once or twice a month say their clergy talk about issu related to homosexualy, and 41% say they discs laws regardg homosexuals.

HIDN BRA: AMERI'S CHANGG ATTUS TOWARD GAY PEOPLE

The vast majory of regular churchgoers who hear about homosexualy church say the msage is a negative rather than a ntral or posive one: overall, 76% say their clergy disurage homosexualy, while 4% say clergy favor acceptance of ; only 16% say their clergy take no posn when they speak about the issue. Asked why some people are homosexual, 42% say is “jt the way that some people prefer to live, ” pared wh 30% who thk homosexualy is somethg people are born wh and 14% who believe velops bee of the way people are brought up.

In general, better-ted people are more likely than those wh ls tn to see homosexualy as nate and unchangeable rather than a liftyle choice, though even among llege graduat there is nsirable divisn of opn.

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

More than half of highly mted whe evangelils (53%) and 60% of black Prottants say that homosexualy is jt a way that some people prefer to live, and jt 14% say is somethg that people are born wh. Nearly half of the public (48%) exprs the view that the entertament media are cludg too many gay them and characters the days pared wh 40% who believe the media are providg the right amount of gay-themed ntent.

And more highly ted people than those wh ls tn say they know or are related to someone who is gay: Nearly three-quarters of llege graduat (73%) say they have a iend or relative who is gay pared wh 52% of those wh a high school tn. Disfort is greater among olr rponnts (29% of people age 65 and olr), those livg ral areas (29%), nservative Republins (30%), and highly mted whe evangelils (34% unfortable around gays and lbians). People who have homosexual iends, fay members, or lleagu are more likely to exprs opns about the issu, and they generally view gays a more posive light pared wh those who do not have gay acquatanc and relativ.

Heterosexuals make up a greater percentage of the untry than whe people do on the Supreme ask everyday Amerins to gus at jt the gay and lbian populatn, and Gallup shows they nsistently overtimate. Every remr of my different path ma me yearn for a fettable broar, blanr mastream sir thenticy foreign cuise or subtled foreign streamg shows, but mands sad homogenizatn of the forever foreign nature of queerns.

GAY RIGHTS ARE CIVIL RIGHTS

Whether that means walkg a para, or never dog ; whether obvly or imperceptibly genr fluid; whether , out or through the back closet to Narnia; whether normal, abnormal, homogenized or wildly unique.

As a proud gay man I’m happy to have survived such a difficult and uneasy journey to Human Rights Campaign’s msagg for marriage equaly, ground the claim that gay relatnships are servg of equal protectn bee they are jt like straight relatnships, did unmeasurable good for the muny. ” Whether or not he, or I, or any gay man feels eher “normal” or “normalized” matters only to the seems much more important is that our legal, relig and tnal stutns e to unrstand that a society posed of people of varyg sexual and genr inti is, the end, what is tly “normal. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: We have a eper look this morng at one of the most profound shifts public attus ever rerd - 's the public view of people who are gay and much of this natn's history, of urse, the vast majory of people disapproved of homosexualy so strongly that anyone who me out was guaranteed to face difficulty and even risked danger.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)VEDANTAM: A surge of people me out durg the '80s and '90s rponse to a health crisis that was claimg the liv of tens of thoands of WOLFSON: AIDS broke the silence about who gay people are. WOLFSON: If we uld claim the language of marriage, a vobulary of shared valu - love, mment, fay, cln, digny, rpect - that would help non-gay people better unrstand who gay people really are and allow to share equally not only marriage, but everythg.