A poll released Thursday showed a
decline in acceptance of LGBT people for the first time in four
years.
GLAAD's fourth annual Accelerating
Acceptance report also found an increase in people reporting that
they've experienced discrimination because of their sexual
orientation or gender identity. The number of people reporting such
incidents increased 11 percent from last year's survey to 55 percent.
The survey – fielded online November
16-20, 2017 among 1,897 U.S. adults over 18 – was conducted by The
Harris Poll and announced during a panel discussion hosted by GLAAD
and The Ariadne Getty Foundation at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland.
“In the past year, there has been a
swift and alarming erosion of acceptance which can only be fought by
being visible and vocal,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis
said in a press release. “This report puts numbers to the bias that
too many LGBTQ Americans have recently experienced. GLAAD is fighting
the rollback by enlisting philanthropic leaders like the Ariadne
Getty Foundation and global changemakers attending the World Economic
Forum to use their platforms and move our community forward.”
Acceptance of LGBT people decreased for
the first time in the report's 4-year history, dropping from 53
percent last year to 49 percent this year.
“Compared to last year’s results,
significantly more respondents noted that they would be uncomfortable
learning a family member is LGBTQ (30 percent vs. 27 percent), having
their child’s teacher be LGBTQ (31 percent vs. 28 percent), and
learning their doctor is LGBTQ (31 percent vs. 28 percent),” GLAAD
said.
John Gerzema, CEO of The Harris Poll,
said that “an unseen casualty of a tumultuous year has been the
LGBTQ community.”
Over the past year, the Trump
administration has attempted to rollback LGBT gains in overt and
subtle ways, including an attempt to prohibit transgender people from
serving in the military and protecting health care workers with
religious or moral objections.
(Related: Trump
rule would allow health care workers to refuse patients based on
religious objections.)