Americans are less accepting of homosexuality - Poll in USA Today

[Stuckinthebush]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-07-28-poll_x.htm

{snip}
Americans have become significantly less accepting of homosexuality since a Supreme Court decision that was hailed as clearing the way for new gay civil rights, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll has found. After several years of growing tolerance, the survey shows a return to a level of more traditional attitudes last seen in the mid-1990s.

Asked whether same-sex relations between consenting adults should be legal, 48% said yes; 46% said no. Before this month, support hadn't been that low since 1996.

In early May, support for legal relations reached a high of 60%-35%.

{end snip}



I have a hard time believing these results. In May, 60% of the polled pubic said that they supported legalizing same-sex relations. Just a few months later, 12% of those people changed their minds. Come on...that doesn't make sense. What is going on here?

My fear is that the DLC or moderate dems will pick up on this and lose their backbone on this issue. "Oh, we can't show support for GLBT issues because the public doesn't support them!"

This really has ruined my day....if the poll results are correct, then Americans have reached a new low in terms of independent, critical thinking.

[Kookaburra]

1. Take a deep breath...

... and remember who sponsored the poll. USA Today? Yeah, real reliable source there -- for birdcage lining anyway. Don't let this ruin your day. :D

[Stuckinthebush]

3. Good point...

but it is read all over the US.

Everytime I am at a hotel on business, the thing is left at my door. It is in all of the airports as well.

So, true or not, people look at it and may say, "Huh? Well, I guess it is a bad thing." I fear that there are too many Americans who don't critically analyze their world, and will go with what they think the majority tells them to think.

[searchingforlight]

2. Don't let this discourage you.

The pendulum swings in greater arcs right after a wind disturbance. This will start to die down as soon as people get tired of the rhetoric and as soon as they realize it is not going to affect them personally or change their lifestyles.

When Civil Unions were passed in VT there were many doomsayers and even a big party push "TAKE BACK VERMONT". (It was kind of funny because when the tourists saw the signs they thought that they meant buy Vermont products to take back to friends.) All of that is gone now. Most of the reaction is positive. All of the damage that was predicted has not happened. It is a non-issue.

[Snellius]

4. Good analysis! 12% just doesn't change their minds that far

in such a short period of time over a basic value issue like this.

I would like to see a poll on how much credibility should be put into polls.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. I Tend To Accept The Poll

if it's done by a reputable organization with the right controls and in this case it is.

That being said, the results suck. I can't believe any American is so closed minded that they would imprison a man for having sex with another man. If you oppose the Supreme Court decision that is the logical outcome of your position.

That is just flat out reactionary.

The greatest right of all is the right to be left alone.

[bloom]

6. today in NYTimes

Gay-Themed TV Gains a Wider Audience
By BERNARD WEINRAUB and JIM RUTENBERG

hirty years ago, prime-time television series often depicted homosexuals as suicidal or psychopaths. In an episode of "Marcus Welby, M.D.," the doctor tells a tormented patient to "win that fight" against his homosexual feelings. An episode of "Police Woman" centered on three lesbians who murdered the residents of a retirement home.

If American television audiences could have seen then what viewers can see now.

Tonight the Bravo cable network will present the first episode of "Boy Meets Boy," in which a gay bachelor will choose a potential partner from a field of 15 men, some of them straight.

That will be followed by "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," in which a team of gay men with expertise in designer clothing, food and wine, and in the arts save aesthetically challenged straight men from their own warped senses of fashion....


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/29/business/media/29GAYS.html?th

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Have You Guys

seen the study that suggests that those who tend to score highest on questionnaires that measure homophobic attitudes are often latent homosexuals.

In other words there is a positive correlation between latent homosexuality and homophobia.

They hooked up a device to the sexual organs of self identified straight males and exposed them to gay porn. Those who measured the highest on anti-gay sentiments also showed the most arousal when exposed to gay porn.

Show me a homophobe and nine times out of ten you have shown me a latent homosexual.

[Stuckinthebush]

8. I have heard about that...

I'd love to see the original research.

Throughout my adulthood, I have found that my straight friends who are so freaked out by homosexuality are often the ones that seem to be very insecure with their own sexuality. On the flip side, the straight guys who don't give a rat's ass whether someone is gay or not, and have no problem being around or with gay guys, are the ones most comfortable with their sexuality.

Go figure.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. I Saw It Linked At Another Site

maybe you can find the link and link it here

[Stuckinthebush]

10. Do you remember which site?

I'll try to hunt for it.

Thanks.

[searchingforlight]

11. I have never figured out why it mattered.

If a guy is straight and he finds out that another is gay, wouldn't he be okay with it? In the grand scheme of things, that's less competition for the gals. Same with the females.

[Stuckinthebush]

12. Exactly

In fact, the straight guys I know that are OK with homosexuality say the same thing.

What's the big deal?

[htuttle]

13. Bull. I don't believe these results

I think a better gauge of where the US public is regarding any particular social issue is prime time television.

Networks don't typically step very far from what they think the public will accept on their prime time TV shows. The feedback goes both ways, but the networks usually try to stay slightly behind where they think the public is.

Are there 'normal' (ie., not clownish, exaggerated stereotypes) homosexuals on prime time TV? Sure. Do gays appear in story lines where their sexual orientation isn't the story? Yes.

Ergo, if it sells soap, Americans will accept it (and vice versa: if American's will accept it, it will sell soap).

Speaking of soap, look at daytime soap operas nowdays. There's all manner of sexual orientations in the story lines. Who do you think watches those things?

I think that if the Republican party runs part of their platform on being 'anti-gay', they will lose on it.