Americans approve of LGBTQ+ people living as they wish, but their support drops for trans people, poll shows
Americans broadly support LGBTQ+ people living as they wish, with large majorities backing same-sex marriage, same-sex couples raising children and laws to protect queer people from job discrimination, according to a new nationwide poll for the Los Angeles Times.
The public offers less support for transgender and nonbinary people. And support for all LGBTQ+ groups drops among Republicans, people who identify as Protestant and those who don't personally know anyone queer, the poll found.
The survey also found deep divisions on questions related to queer youth, such as whether children should have access to gender-affirming medical care.
The poll, done for The Times by NORC at the University of Chicago and paid for by the California Endowment, was designed in part to re-ask questions from a groundbreaking survey on American perceptions of gay and lesbian people that The Times conducted in 1985.
The results document a huge shift in American opinion over a nearly 40-year period.
•In 1985, 72% of American adults said sexual relations between adults of the same sex were always or almost always wrong. Today, that has dropped to 28%.
•In 1985, 64% said they would be very upset if their child was gay or lesbian. Now, 14% said that.
