Support For LGBTQ Protections Declines – Poll
US public support for LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws has declined for the first time since 2015 despite a surge in the number of Americans identifying as something other than heterosexual, a new poll has found.
The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) survey, released on Tuesday, showed that 67% of US adults back same-sex marriage rights, down from 69% in 2022. At the same time, support for protecting LGBTQ Americans against housing and employment discrimination dropped to 76% from 80%, and opposition to allowing businesses to refuse service based on religious beliefs slid to 60% from 65%.
Although Americans of all political stripes and most religious faiths continue to largely favor LGBTQ protections, the drop in support could be a “warning sign,” PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman told The Guardian. “This is really the first time we’ve seen a decline in support,” she said. The poll “reminds us that you can’t expect hard-fought rights for some Americans to continue going up in perpetuity,” she added.
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Just 59% of Republicans support anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans, compared with 89% of Democrats, the poll showed. Republican backing for such laws fell from 66% in 2022 and was even lower than the 61% level reached in 2015.
Conservative politicians have pushed back against LGBTQ activism and sex-change procedures for minors. Nineteen Republican-controlled states have enacted restrictions on puberty blockers and sex-change surgeries. Several states have tried to ban drag performances for children, and local school districts in such states as Texas, Tennessee and Florida have removed LGBTQ-themed books from their libraries.
Major corporations, such as retailer Target and Bud Light beermaker Anheuser-Busch, have faced consumer backlash over their LGBTQ-themed promotions.
Public backing for LGBTQ causes has slipped even as rapidly increasing numbers of Americans identify themselves as LGBTQ. The LGBTQ population has more than doubled since 2016, to 10% from 4%, PRRI said. LGBTQ identification is so high among adults aged 29 and younger, at 22%, that the group accounts for 44% of the nation’s LGBTQ population, more than double its 19% share of the overall populace.
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PRRI also found sharp geographic, political and religious disparities. For instance, 16% of survey respondents from New Mexico identify as LGBTQ, compared with only 4% in Alabama and South Carolina. While 58% of LGBTQ Americans consider themselves to be politically liberal, 13% say they are conservative. Over half (52%) of LGBTQ respondents identify as religiously unaffiliated, versus 27% of the overall population.
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Trump Pledges to Release Capitol Rioters
Former US President Donald Trump has said that freeing the “wrongfully imprisoned”Capitol Hill rioters will be one of his “first acts” if he returns to the White House. Nearly 1,400 Trump supporters have been arrested and charged for taking part in the January 6 protest.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump said: “My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!”
A crowd of Trump’s supporters descended on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to prevent lawmakers from certifying what they believed was Joe Biden’s fraudulent victory in the presidential election the previous November. The demonstration quickly degenerated into a riot, although US Capitol Police restored order within hours.
Biden and his Democrat allies labeled the affray an “insurrection,” and the US Justice Department launched an unprecedented manhunt to track down and arrest those who took part. As of last week, 1,358 people have been charged in relation to the riot, most of them for misdemeanor trespassing offenses. However, 127 have been charged with using weapons or injuring police officers, and even those convicted of non-violent crimes have received lengthyprison terms.
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Trump is facing federal charges for allegedly instigating the riot. According to government prosecutor Jack Smith, the former president sparked the unrest and committed conspiracy against the United States by telling his supporters to “fight like hell” against Congress’ certification of Biden’s win. According to Trump’s lawyers, the then-president was well within his rights to give such a speech, during which he also encouraged his followers to protest “peacefully and patriotically.”
A Washington DC appeals court has yet to decide whether presidential immunity should shield Trump from being prosecuted over the speech.
Trump has referred to the rioters as “political prisoners,” and suggested that he would pardon some of them if re-elected. “I am inclined to pardon many of them,” he said at a CNN town hall event last year. “I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control,” he added.
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With his last remaining rival, Nikki Haley, suspending her presidential campaign last week, Trump is all but certain to be the Republican Party’s nominee to take on Biden in this November’s presidential election. Most recent opinion polls show Trump leading the incumbent Democrat by between two and nine points.
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Macron Melts Down After 3 Year Investigation Concludes His Wife Was ‘Born Male’
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Palace Aide Admits Royals Placed Kate Middleton In ‘Medically Induced Coma’
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Married 4th Grade Teacher Pregnant By Student Charged With Grooming 21 More Children
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