Support for LGBTQ+ equality has slipped according to a worrying new GLAAD study

Support for LGBTQ+ equality remains high in the U.S., but negative rhetoric is having an impact, according to the latest “Accelerating Acceptance” study from GLAAD, released Thursday.

There continues to be supermajority support for equal rights for LGBTQ+ people, standing at 80 percent — but that’s down from the record 84 percent reported last year.

“This should not come as a surprise,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis wrote in the study’s introduction. “Extremist politicians, unchecked and enabled in the media — including social media — have relentlessly targeted LGBTQ people with harmful legislative proposals and disinformation campaigns. The same lawmakers and extremist judges targeting abortion access, contraception, immigration, voting rights, and free speech, are using the same strategies of fear and disinformation.”

More than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in states around the country this year, she noted. “While the vast majority never make it to law, public debate over a person’s humanity and rights have real-world consequences,” Ellis wrote. For instance, the most recent FBI hate-crimes report showed a 19 percent year-over-year rise in anti-LGBTQ+ crimes and a 35 percent spike in anti-transgender crimes.

“Fortunately, the data points to proven ways to keep expanding and accelerating acceptance,” she continued. “When Americans see us, living authentically in our communities and included accurately in news and entertainment stories, they recognize how our rights to be ourselves and belong are the same as any American’s, and worth fighting alongside us to achieve.”

Among the good news in the study: 95 percent of non-LGBTQ+ respondents said schools should be safe and accepting for all youth, and 93 percent said children should be taught to appreciate and accept people as they are. Ninety-one percent said LGBTQ+ people should be able to live their lives free from fear, and 89 percent said LGBTQ+ people should be free from discrimination.

Eighty-two percent of non-LGBTQ+ respondents said they would support a friend or family member who came out as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and 77 percent said they would support one who came out as transgender or nonbinary. But fewer than 30 percent on average said they know someone who is LGBTQ+.

And younger LGBTQ+ people reported a greater incidence of discrimination than older ones. Seventy percent of Gen Z LGBTQ+ people reported discrimination based on gender identity, up from 57 percent in the 2023 study, and 54 percent reported discrimination based on sexual orientation, up from 49 percent the previous year. The numbers were lower for millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers.

Media portrayals are one way to counteract anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice, but the percentage of respondents encountering them was somewhat lower than the previous year. Sixty-three percent of non-LGBTQ+ respondents said they were exposed to LGBTQ+ content in advertising, down from 67 percent last year, and 72 percent said they were exposed to it in TV and movies, down from 76 percent in 2023.

The greatest positive influence on non-LGBTQ+ people was personal interactions, followed by portrayals in entertainment media. The greatest negative influence was portrayals or news on social media, with news coverage coming in second.

The study was conducted online in January among a national sample of 2,511 U.S. adults, age 18 or over, using sample sourced by Cint, which has the world’s largest consumer network for digital survey-based research. Data were weighted to ensure results represent the 18+ U.S. population.

“GLAAD’s 2024 Accelerating Acceptance Study arrives at a monumental inflection point for the LGBTQ community and for our entire country,” Ellis said in a press release. “While acceptance for LGBTQ people remains at supermajority levels, the data this year also sounds substantial alarms about threats to this progress and to freedoms valued by every American. The same extremist lawmakers, judges and media sources targeting abortion access, contraception, free and fair elections, and free speech, are using the same strategies of fear and disinformation to undermine LGBTQ people and our equality. Fortunately, the data also points to proven ways to keep expanding and accelerating acceptance. Our study shows that more non-LGBTQ people have been inspired to speak up for LGBTQ equality as a result of accurate news coverage, and voters have shown up in election after election to reject extremist candidates and their anti-trans campaigns. GLAAD’s Accelerating Acceptance Study should continue to inspire and empower all of us to rise up and speak out for everyone’s freedom to be themselves. Our safety, our collective success, and the future of our democracy depend on it.”