Is America Running Out of Patience with LGBT Activism?
by Glenn Stanton, Public Discourse:
From surprisingly fast and unexpected victory can come great hubris and the desire to utterly crush one’s opponents. Perhaps GLAAD and its allies should learn to practice what they preach: tolerance of other people’s beliefs and practices, even if they don’t fully understand them.
GLAAD, a leading gay advocacy outfit, released a new report showing that positive attitudes toward homosexuality and people who identify as LGBT have decreased a bit over the last few years. They sum up their findings rather starkly: “This year’s survey reflects a decline with people’s comfort year-over-year in every LGBTQ situation…”
The organization shows great concern over what they describe as the “significant decline in overall comfort and acceptance of LGBTQ people.” Their survey results indicate, at least, that indifference toward the LGBT community and its political efforts is increasing. At most, support for gay causes is diminishing. The report’s introduction, written by GLAAD’s President Sarah Kate Ellis, interprets the findings with dramatic, fearful flair. “This year,” she writes, “the acceptance pendulum abruptly stopped and swung in the opposite direction.”
The truth is not as dramatic as GLAAD makes it out to be. The changes they track in attitudes do indicate a less passionate embrace of alternative sexual behaviors and gender identities this year than in years past, but not markedly so. Most advocacy groups would not be terribly concerned about such a shift. But to GLAAD, even indifference—much less disapproval—is a cause for great concern. If celebration and affirmation of LGBT causes are not increasing, bigotry must be on the rise. There is no middle ground.
What is GLAAD’s explanation for this shift away from gay affirmation? It’s not difficult to guess. It’s President Trump and the supposedly increasing atmosphere of “intolerance” he has brought to our nation. Really?
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