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I find that to be profoundly encouraging.
In the UK, it seems that once a critical proportion of people were accepting of (or even prepared to be tolerant of) same-sex relationships, some areas moved very rapidly indeed. There are now some quite large parts of the UK where being gay is completely unremarkable ... though of course there are still many places where it is very difficult. Progress from 1967 onwards (the partial deciminalisation of male homosexual acts in private) often felt very slow indeed, with backward steps including the notorious "Section 28" as late as 1988. But the last decade has seen massive strides forward: reduction in the age of consent from 21 to 18 and then 16, anti-discrimination laws, gays in the military, and civil partnerships. Not all of these may have comanded majority popular support, but we have increasingly reached the point where open expressions of bigotry are deemed both eccentic and a slight social faux-pas. It would be nice to think that the USA would follow a similar pattern.
I also think it's interesting that the article suggests that most of the changes in attitudes have been among men - who still hold a disproportionate access to the "levers of power" in many ways. The increase in support from the Catholic community is also interesting - does it reflect an increasing perception that the papacy and rest of the hierarchy is no longer in touch with the Faithful?
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars." Martin Luther King
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Thank you, Pat, for bringing this to our attention. I agree with NW that it is very encouraging indeed. I see a similar trend here in Israel. Though I think the the details of the improvement in the status of the LGBTQ community in each country will differ: different history, different society, different political machinery. The UK has found its way; the US will find its way and Israel is finding its way.
NW wrote:
The increase in support from the Catholic community is also interesting - does it reflect an increasing perception that the papacy and rest of the hierarchy is no longer in touch with the Faithful?
Or may it's just that the Faithful are getting less faithful?
J F R
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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