The Tide is Strongly in Our Favor
89% of Americans support equal job opportunities for gay men and lesbians. Movement Advancement Project, August 2011
77% of Americans believe that openly-gay individuals should be allowed to serve in the military. ABC News/Washington Post Poll. Dec. 9-12, 2010
64% of Americans believe gay or lesbian relations between consenting adults should be legal. Gallop May 25, 2011
59% of Americans believe that legally married spouses should be eligible for the same for the same federal benefits as different-sex couples. Gallop poll July 5-11, 2011
56% of Americans believe “gay or lesbian relations are morally acceptable.” This represents a 16% increase since 2001. Gallup poll, May 2011
55% of Virginians support gay adoption vs. 35% of Virginians who are against it. Washington Post poll, May 2011
53% of Americans believe that same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid. Gallup Poll. May 5-8, 2011
51% of Americans believe there should be marriage equality recognized by the law as valid with the same rights as traditional marriages. CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. April 9-10, 2011
49% of Americans believe that the legal marriage of same sex-couples in some states should be recognized in all the states. Quinnipiac University Poll. July 5-11, 2011
47% of Virginians support gay marriagevs. 43% of Virginians who are against it.Washington Post poll, May 2011
3.3% of Virginia’s population (202,974 individuals) declare that they are LGBT. Movement Advancement Project, August 2011
1.2% of all Virginian couples counted in the 2010 census are same-sex couples. This is a 49% increase from the 2000 census. U.S. Census, August 2011
The Sharp Rise In Acceptance of Marriage Equality
The 64% for marriage equality in a Gallop Poll this May is a remarkable number. In 1996 Gallop and Pew measured approval at 27%. In the 15 years between 1996 and 2011 approval rose steadily passing the 50% mark in the beginning of 2011.
The leap to 64% in May, 2011 melted to 50% and 48% in 2 Gallop polls in July of the same year. These rapid changes appear to have been due to responses to recent advances by the gay community, such as, the implementation of marriage equality in New York and the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Texas anti-sodomy law was unconstitutional.
The 37% (64%-27%) increase (over the15 years examined) in acceptance for marriage equality and the more solid 26% (53%-27%) increase give strong support to the encouraging conclusion that even if some short-term gains in support of marriage equality are soft and reversible there is a solid and steadily growing base in the public who support the legalization of marriage-equality.
In addition, a recent ABC/Washington Post study indicated that aging may be one of the principle engines of this trend. Younger adults are substantially more supportive of legalizing marriage equality than older adults:
Percent That Favors Marriage Equality by Age Brackets
68% of 18-29 year olds (up 11 points since 2005)
65% of 30-39 year olds (up 23 points)
52% of 40-49 year olds (up 17 points)
45% of 50-64 year olds and (up 8 points )
33% of 65+ year olds (up15 points)
Not only does approval of marriage equality increase as age brackets go down, each bracket has increased its rate of approval of marriage equality by 8 to 23 points over the last 15 years.
Census Shows Surge in Gay Couples in Virginia
The number of people who identify themselves as part of a same-sex couple has soared over the past decade in what demographers say is the product of an aggressive outreach effort by the Census Bureau and growing cultural acceptance.
- In Virginia, the census counted 20,500 same-sex couples, a 49 percent increase that amounts to 1.2 percent of couples in the state.
- While the census shows that gay and lesbian couples are present in every county in the state, most of the same-sex couples live in urban neighborhoods.
- Richmond show the highest levels, and the Washington suburbs are close behind.
- Gay families with minor children were encountered in every jurisdiction except for one.
- Though their numbers are smaller, gay and lesbian couples with children show up at higher rates in many rural areas. Gary Gates, demographer with the Williams Institute (a UCLA think tank that specializes in gay legal and policy issues), said that is because many of them had an earlier relationship and child with someone of the opposite sex. "It's more common in socially conservative areas where people tend to come out later," he said. "The irony is that socially conservative areas create more gay families."
You can read the full article in The Washington Post here.
Movement Advancement Project Releases 2011 Momentum Report
The Movement Advancement Project (MAP) has released its third biennial Momentum Report, which tracks the lives of LGBT people and the health of the LGBT movement. This year's report shows a tremendous amount of progress, particularly in political opinion (such as improved polling on marriage equality) and key issues (like the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell). The report also includes many compelling maps that show the state-by-state improvements in LGBT equality over the past ten years. Interactive versions of the maps are available on MAP's website.
While the progress and momentum are important, MAP's executive director, Ineke Mushovic, points out that success is a "double-edged sword" because it can bring "the risk of complacency" and the "false belief that LGBT people are actually equal." Here are some of the inequities the report identifies that show how far the movement still has to go:
- FINANCIAL INEQUITY: LGBT Americans are more likely to be low-income or living in poverty, contrary to stereotype.
- HEALTH DISPARITIES: The LGBT community continues to face higher rates of being uninsured and lacking competent care.
- RELATIONSHIP RECOGNITION: Same-sex couples still have no legal protections in 30 states and are still denied benefits from the federal government.
- EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION: LGB employees can still be fired for their sexual orientation in 29 states; transgender employees can still be fired for their gender identity in 35 states.
- SAFE SCHOOLS: There are 32 states that don't have anti-bullying protections for sexual orientation and 35 that don't protect for gender identity.
- RAISING CHILDREN: Seven states effectively ban second-parent adoption.
- NEGATIVE CLIMATE: Discrimination, violence, and stigma continue to interfere with the health and well-being of LGBT Americans.
Read the full article by Zack Ford at ThinkProgress.org.