Comfort level for LGBTQ drops in poll
Students in COLUMBUS — an LGBTQ service-oriented organization at Ohio State University think the campus is a generally safe space.
But they’ve heard their peers question why a character in a movie had to be gay. They’ve also seen roommate postings requiring that the person must be straight.
So they weren’t altogether surprised when a recent report signaled decreasing comfort levels with LGBTQ people among young nonLGBTQ adults.
“People are still saying that they support equal rights, because they have the potential to be socially isolated if they don’t support equal rights,” said Ohio State senior Hannah Messer, co-president of Students for Diversity in Education through Service. “(But) saying that you support equal rights and being an ally are two very different things.”
Just 45% of adults ages 18 to 34 said in 2018 that they were comfortable interacting with LGBTQ people, according to the Accelerating Acceptance survey conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD. That’s down from 53% in 2017, and 63% in 2016.
“We can’t take anything for granted,” said Grant Stancliff, communications director for the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Ohio. “There’s an implicit assumption that we are on a course of progress, and that time is the most important factor (and) that kind of no matter what we do in our day-to-day, that it will get better just by the nature of time passing.”
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis sounded a similar alarm, pointing to a contentious political climate and culture. GLAAD and other organizations supporting LGBTQ people have said that the Trump administration’s “discriminatory policies and targeted rhetoric” have helped pave the way for others’ intolerance.
“The younger generation has traditionally been thought of as a beacon of progressive values,” Ellis said in a written statement released with the report. “We have taken that idea for granted, and this year’s results show that the sharp and quick rise in divisive rhetoric in politics and culture is having a negative influence on younger Americans.”
More generally, representation and acceptance of LGBTQ people has seemingly increased — from more LGBTQ characters in television and movies to growing numbers of gender-sexuality alliance clubs in local schools.
Ryan Cloutier, president of Pride OSU, a campus social organization aimed at providing safe and welcoming environments for LGBTQ students and allies, thinks the divisive political climate has in part led to young adults’ decreasing comfort with LGBTQ people reported in the survey. But he also suspects that the downturn could be because survey respondents are starting to think of transgender people when they hear “LGBTQ,” when in previous years they might have thought primarily of gay people.
“Now the trans-rights movement is having a really big push into the mainstream,” Cloutier said. “People are finally thinking about trans people and how they feel about trans people.”
SDES at Ohio State, which has more than 20 members, already had a goal of becoming more visible on campus, its leaders said. “This report just puts even more fire behind that,” Messer said.