Intro
- Hook–introduce the reader to the topic that Americans have become more accepting of LGBTQ+ community
- Thesis: An increase in activism and visibility of the gay community as a result of the AIDS epidemic influenced a shift in the attitudes of Americans toward the LGBTQ+ community.
Review of the shift
- Overall, U.S. has become more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community
- Late 1980s – present
- Evidence that a shift has taken place: https://www.norc.org/NewsEventsPublications/PressReleases/Pages/american-acceptance-of-homosexuality-gss-report.aspx
- The change toward acceptance of the LGBTQ+ began in the late 1980s after years of remaining relatively constant.
- In 1987, 75 percent of people felt same-sex relations are “always wrong.” By 2000, that number dropped to 54 percent and by 2010 was down to 43.5 percent.
- Support for same sex marriage went from 11 percent approval in 1988 to 46 percent in 2010
- Include observations from primary texts from both before and after the shift
Analysis of Causes
- The AIDS crisis resulted in an increase in activism – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-milestones-american-gay-rights-movement/
- March 10, 1987 – AIDS advocacy group ACT UP (The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) is formed in response to the devastating affects the disease has had on the gay and lesbian community in New York. The group holds demonstrations against pharmaceutical companies profiteering from AIDS-related drugs as well as the lack of AIDS policies protecting patients from outrageous prescription prices
- October 11, 1987 – hundreds of thousands of activists take part in the National March on Washington to demand that President Ronald Reagan address the AIDS crisis.
- May – June, 1988 – the CDC mails a brochure, Understanding AIDS, to every household in the U.S. Approximately 107 million brochures are mailed.
- December 1, 1988 – the World Health Organization organizes the first World AIDS Day to raise awareness of the spreading pandemic.
- AIDs crisis resulted in many people coming out
- In 1978, almost a decade after Stonewall, gay rights activist Harvey Milk gave an impassioned plea: “Every gay person must come out.” In the decades that followed, more and more Americans started coming out to their loved ones, some galvanized by the pain of the AIDS epidemic. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/americans-views-flipped-on-gay-rights-how-did-minds-change-so-quickly/2019/06/07/ae256016-8720-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html
- Activists were successful in expanding awareness of how many Americans were (often secretly) gay, which had a snowball effect. One of the triggers for the expansion of same-sex marriage was people coming to understand that they knew gay people who were affected by bans on marriage. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/07/americas-increased-acceptance-gay-people-isnt-about-schools/
- Increased visibility –
- Once the gay community began to speak out about the crisis, they became more visible. This visibility led to the U.S. becoming more accepting of LGBTQ+ individuals.
- Growing visibility of gay people in popular culture
- Actress Ellen DeGeneres came out on national television in April 1997 and the NBC sitcom “Will & Grace” had taken off
- The more connections Americans made with gay or lesbian people, the more positive their attitudes toward them became — a trend social scientists call “the contact hypothesis.”
Critique of the shift
- Attitudes are still divided on the morality of this shift: https://www.norc.org/NewsEventsPublications/PressReleases/Pages/american-acceptance-of-homosexuality-gss-report.aspx
- Large generation gap on the issue of same-sex marriage and opinions on the LGBTQ+ community
- While 64 percent of those under 30 back same-sex marriage, only 27 percent of those 70 and older support it.
- In 2010, 26 percent of the people surveyed who were under 30 said they felt same-sex behavior is “always wrong,” while 63 percent of the people aged 70 and older held that opinion.
- Public attitudes are very divided on the topic: Although 44 percent of the people surveyed felt that sexual relations between two adults of the same sex is always wrong, another 41 percent thought such relations were “not wrong at all.”
- Points to be included: What does this division indicate? How might this division be resolved?
- Greater significance of the shift/why it ultimately matters – important to understand of the history of the gay community in order to continue to promote their equality and inclusion
Conclusion
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/americans-views-flipped-on-gay-rights-how-did-minds-change-so-quickly/2019/06/07/ae256016-8720-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html
- And attitudes about same-sex marriage have remained mostly frozen since 2017. “The positions are hardened,” Haider-Markel said.
- Statistically, once support for an issue reaches a majority like this one, movement toward 100 percent becomes much more difficult, Flores said, meaning that until a major shift occurs there will continue to be a core group of conservatives who oppose same-sex marriage.
- The trends in American’s attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community have paused, but eventually will continue again