Americans favor legal protections for gays, lesbians, transgender people: survey

By Suzan Clarke • The Journal News

Most Americans favor policies and legislation that protect lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, according to a new survey released today by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

The Pulse of Equality survey shows that 75 percent of Americans favor either marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gays and lesbians. Also, it shows that most – 64 percent – favor allowing gays who are open about their sexual orientation to serve in the military, and 63 percent of people are for an expansion of hate crime laws to cover gays and transgender people.

A slight majority of Americans are for protecting gays and transgender people under existing discrimination laws relating to employment, housing and public accommodations. Nearly 70 percent of people oppose laws that would prevent qualified gays and lesbians from adopting children, it added.

“Majorities of Americans clearly favor equality for gay and transgender people, but we’ve seen that too many still mistakenly believe that the intolerance and injustices that we face are things of the past,” GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano said in a release. “So it’s more vital than ever that we tell our stories, illustrate the injustices we face and remind people of the common ground we share.”

The survey was conducted Nov. 13 to 17, 2008, in the wake of California voters’ recent approval of a gay marriage ban.

http://lohud.com/article/20081203/NEWS03/812030415/-1/SPORTS