Public opn about gay rights has shifted enormoly the Uned Stat over the past few s. What are some of the factors that have led to this historic change attus?
Contents:
- HIDN BRA: AMERI'S CHANGG ATTUS TOWARD GAY PEOPLE
- RADILLY NORMAL: HOW GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS CHANGED THE MDS OF THEIR OPPONENTS
- HIDN BRA: AMERI'S CHANGG ATTUS TOWARD GAY PEOPLE
HIDN BRA: AMERI'S CHANGG ATTUS TOWARD GAY PEOPLE
* hidden brain gay rights *
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. MICHAEL ROSENFELD: There's more and more rapid change attus towards gay rights the past 30 years the Uned Stat than there ever has been rerd attus the Uned Stat on any issue.
ROSENFELD: It's the perd when gay and lbian people e out of the closet that straight Amerins' attus about gay rights really start to shift. (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.
WOLFSON: The vast majory of judg who are gog to le on the qutn, the vast majory of legislators who have to take actn, the vast majory of voters are, of urse, not gay. ROSENFELD: Attus towards every kd of gay rights has creased a siar way - not que as fast, but a siar way to marriage equaly. And then, what ltle data we have on trans rights also suggts that there's been a sharp crease appreciatn for the rights of trans I thk one of the thgs that has been shown by the Marriage Equaly Movement is that if you're a gay or lbian, you have more rights than you ed to have.
RADILLY NORMAL: HOW GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS CHANGED THE MDS OF THEIR OPPONENTS
For generatns, livg openly as a gay person the Uned Stat was difficult, and often dangero. But there's been a dramatic change public attus toward gay people. This week, we explore one of the most strikg transformatns of public attu ever rerd. And we nsir whether the strategi ed by gay rights activists hold lsons for other groups seekg change. * hidden brain gay rights *
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: Gay rights advot are outraged over a lg yterday by a Virgia judge, which nied a mother ctody of her son bee she's a lbian. What we see attus towards gay rights is a really stunng change over time, sooner than almost anybody thought possible. (SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Lori Lightfoot be the first black woman and the first openly gay person ever elected mayor LIGHTFOOT: Each of you, one day, n be the mayor of INSKEEP, BYLINE: Pete Buttigieg is 37 years old, and he is nng for BUTTIGIEG: The most important thg my life, my marriage to Chasten, is somethg that exists by the grace of a sgle vote on the U.
VEDANTAM: In time, William disvered that, like his, sister he, too, was an As I grew up, I me to realize that I was gay and then that and of self brought about different treatment. VEDANTAM: The challenge William's se wasn't jt at My parents are Mormon, and Mormons are not very much favor of people beg gay.
HIDN BRA: AMERI'S CHANGG ATTUS TOWARD GAY PEOPLE
For generatns, livg openly as a gay person the Uned Stat was difficult, and often dangero. But there's been a dramatic change public attus toward gay people. This week, we explore one of the most strikg transformatns of public attu ever rerd. And we nsir whether t… * hidden brain gay rights *
William told his parents that given the church's views on homosexualy, he had no tert gog on the tradnal missn trip when he was And then one day, my dad and I were drivg home om somewhere and got a big fight.
For generatns, livg openly as a gay person the Uned Stat was difficult, and often dangero. But there's been a dramatic change public attu... * hidden brain gay rights *
ROSENFELD: There's more and more rapid change attus towards gay rights the past 30 years the Uned Stat than there ever has been rerd attus the Uned Stat on any issue. Startg the late 1980s, the General Social Survey perdilly asked Amerins whether gay people should have the right to marry.
ROSENFELD: Even though was sort of Democrats and liberals who were more likely to be open to gay rights, turns out that there were plenty of evangelil Christians, ral people, Republin voters who actually changed their md on the issu. Now kids very often are g out middle school or even before, and so jt the visibily of gay people has shifted enormoly over the past 10, 15, 20 years. It jt shows you the speed at which different bias are The forests show that if thgs go swimmgly well, ne years, anti-gay attus will be all but elimated - that we will reach ntraly.
Soclogist Michael Rosenfeld says for the first time the liv of many Amerins, gay people were makg themselv visible. So wh the same fay, you have relativ who are gay and relativ who are straight, whereas the fay system segregat - not pletely but almost pletely - wh om blacks. And then, 's also te that bee gays and lbians are the same fai as heterosexual people, they have the same socenomic background, and they're geographilly tegrated wh them.