Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 25th, 2010
…the better these numbers look:
According to a recent Gallup poll, the percentage of Americans who believe that gays and lesbians are “morally acceptable” is at an all-time high. At 52% viewing gay people favorably against 43% disproving, this is the first time that a clear majority of Americans see gays as good since this polling began in 2001. And in even better news, this year marks the first time in which that spread blew the doors off the ±4% margin of error.
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TampaZeke
May 25th, 2010
I’m feeling all Sally Field at the Oscars over this news.
They tolerate us, they really tolerate us!
And believe it or not, I don’t mean that facetiously. This is great news. We don’t need people to like or love us for us to achieve Civil equality. They just need to tolerate us, treat us just like everyone else (nothing more, nothing less) and leave us alone.
Getting people to like and love us is something that we achieve individually, one on one, not as a community.
Allen
May 25th, 2010
Zeke (if I may be so forward as to call you that), you’ve hit the nail on the head. Someone doesn’t have to like you to treat you with respect or to give you the same rights as everyone else. And I think the desire for equal treatment is what’s really fostering tolerance. It’s also why opponents of equality always make the claim that it’s about “special rights”. I think most reasonable people object to giving a specific group special rights, but reasonable people also think everyone deserves equal rights.
I think something else that fosters tolerance is the fact that more and more straight people know someone who’s gay or lesbian. As I said, someone doesn’t have to like you to see you as an equal, but it’s probably difficult for most people to look a family member or someone they call a friend in the eye and say, “I don’t think you deserve the same rights that I enjoy”.
TheraP
May 25th, 2010
Here’s more proof. It’s anecdotal. From last Fall:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/t/h/therap/2009/11/puzzlement.php
It’s wonderful when the news is Good News.
Ben in Oakland
May 25th, 2010
As i have said over and over again– and will again– the enemy is not the Chrstian right. The enemy is the closet.
Come out, come out, whereever you are.
TampaZeke
May 25th, 2010
Yeah, and when you combine the two (the closet and the Christian right) it’s a DEADLY mix.
jcrr
May 25th, 2010
But it’s the closet that empowers the Christian right, and produces anti-gay activists like George Reekers and Ted Haggard.
Derrick
May 25th, 2010
I’d like to point out that this long term polling by Gallup decisively destroyes the one hope that the Religous Right has been holding onto: that young people who are pro-gay will become more conservative as they grow older and have families. This is Maggie Gallagher’s talking point in response to polls showing the greatest support for SSM among young people.
This phenomenon actually is borne out on other issues, such as drug use, abortion, and taxation. But there is no logical reason why this should apply to gay issues and the Gallup polling, which goes back to the 1970s, shows that the trend is clear, fairly steady, and does not reverse with age. 18-20 year olds in 1985 who are now 42-44 year olds have not become more anti-gay. And their progeny are vastly more pro-gay than they are. Based on nearly 40 years of polling, there is no reason to think that today’s 18 year olds will be any more anti-gay in 2035.
Burr
May 25th, 2010
Just like nobody gets more racist as they age, nobody gets more homophobic as they age.
This issue is only going in one direction. I’ve never seen anyone move in the opposite direction.
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