Turning up the volume of rational voices

Turning up the volume of rational voices

May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.?It was founded in 2004 to raise awareness about issues faced by the LBGBTQ community – in particular, issues of discrimination, intolerance and violence. It was also founded to bring people together to create stronger support systems, and ultimately, to help people become more tolerant of differences.?

Let’s start by building awareness

When it comes to protecting LGBTQ rights, the people have spoken.?In PRRI’s latest American Values Atlas[1], eight in 10 surveyed (80 percent) supported laws protecting the LGBTQ community against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing.?

Perhaps more encouraging is the steady improvement over the past 7 years (2015 to 2022).?Overall support for these nondiscrimination protections increased 9 percentage points, including:

• A 12 percentage point increase among Democrats (from78 percent to 90 percent)
• A 5 percentage point increase among Republicans (from 61 percent to 66 percent)

Similarly, “Vast majorities [between 70 and 92 percent] of most major religious groups support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people,” along with 87 percent of the religiously unaffiliated. ?

Of the people, by the people, for the people

With just 1 in 14 Americans (7 percent) strongly opposing such protections, it seems counterintuitive that over the past few years, state legislatures have advanced a record number of bills attacking LGBTQ rights.

There are 11 states currently advancing at least 10 such bills.[2]?Yet in every one of those states, at least 65 percent of people surveyed supported LGBTQ protections. In eight of the 11 states, support was 75 percent or higher, and here in Iowa, we had the highest level of support for protections at 85 percent. Sure doesn’t seem like the will of the people is being followed here.

Connecting the dots

A reasonable conclusion about this disconnect – the squeaky wheel is getting the grease.?The 7 percent strongly opposing LGBTQ protections (and/or fighting to take away existing rights) is making a lot more noise than the 80 percent supporting protections.?The 7 percent – and far too many of our elected officials – are brazenly dehumanizing the LGBTQ community, and blatantly suggesting the community deserves something less than basic human rights.?

Here’s the real tragedy.?We’ve allowed the 7 percent, and the divide in our communities, to hurt real people.?At a time when Americans are more supportive than ever of LGBTQ protections, hate crimes against members of the LGBTQ community are up nearly 30 percent. Over the past 10 years, more than 15,000 hate crimes have been reported, where the bias was sexual orientation or gender identity.[3] Undoubtedly, this number is substantially under-reported. And it doesn’t capture a widespread issue for LGBTQ youth – where nearly 1 in 3 (32 percent) reported being bullied on school property in the past year.[4]

Turning up the volume

On this day, and days beyond, I hope you will join me in being more vocal. In turning up the volume in support of LGBTQ rights overall.?In condemning discrimination, bullying and violence.?And in making sure our elected officials are held accountable for legislating in ways that are consistent with the sentiment of the vast majority. A majority that continues to grow in its support of the rights of the LGBTQ community.

How to get started

• Read and practice what you learn in The Trevor Project’s Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Young People.?
• Track what is happening in your state through the ACLU Bill Tracker and when you see these bills, contact your elected officials.?
• Volunteer with local LGBTQ organizations or look to GLSEN for places to share your talent!?

[1] https://www.prri.org/research/findings-from-the-2022-american-values-atlas/

[2] https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights (as of May 12, 2023)

[3] https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/hate-crime-statistics -- Total hate crimes with sexual orientation or gender identity as source of bias for most recent 4 years of available data (2018 to 2021) compared to total for prior 4 years (2014 to 2017)

[4] https://www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/lgbtq