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Most Teens Say Gay is Okay
A survey company dedicated to market research recently found that most teens are quite supportive of gay rights. Pangea media conducted a survey of teens and tweens, with nearly 3500 respondents and discovered that most kids seem to take a fairly libertarian view of gay issues, while also acknowledging that gay students are discriminated against in their own schools.
Some 75% of those surveyed supported gay marriage, while a slightly higher 78% supported the right of gay students to bring a same-sex date to prom. And yet, 57% said gay students were discriminated against in their schools.
I found that interesting in light of the new research on bullying that looks to the silent majority of non-bullies and non-victims as a potential force to end bullying. While most kids don’t care if their fellow students are gay (a majority also said it wouldn’t bother them to have a same-gender gay friend), gay kids are still facing problems with harassment in school. Supposing that an even smaller minority of the kids who oppose gay rights are actual bullies (I have to assume many are just quietly disapproving), it seems like it wouldn’t take so much for the discrimination to stop. All these kids need is the backing of the adults in the school and a strong sense that they are not alone in disapproving of discrimination.
I have to imagine that for teens, it’s a lot easier to announce your opinion on an anonymous survey than it would be to oppose an incident in the hall between periods. But it gives me hope to know that just maybe when one or two kids do have the courage to stand up against hate, their peers might overwhelmingly have their backs.
See Also: Judge Won’t Protect Kids from the Gays
image: ebags.com
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7 Comments
Twyla commented on Jun 19 09 at 1:50 pmI agree that kids (and adults) should stand against hate. But they should all stand for what they believe. My kids are quiet with their beliefs and would not enjoy nor participate in bullying. Not agreeing with someones choices is not the same as hating a person for their choices. I can assure you that my 14 year old is against gay marriage and would have said so on the survey. However, he is not against gay people and does not harbor nor display hate. To disagree is not to be hateful it is to be different in opinion.
Shannon commented on Jun 19 09 at 2:01 pmTwyla, did you miss this part?
“Supposing that an even smaller minority of the kids who oppose gay rights are actual bullies (I have to assume many are just quietly disapproving)…”
Chiken commented on Jun 19 09 at 2:30 pmIt’s pretty hateful to want the state to continue to deny two gay adults the same rights that straight couples have. Just because someone says that they hate the sin and not the sinner doesn’t mean that the result of their position isn’t hateful.
PlumbLucky commented on Jun 19 09 at 2:41 pmWhat I saw in high school was this: it wasn’t, for the most part, the students who were making LGBT students feel discriminated against. Taking a stand against the discrimination in some cases was a moot point because it “came down from above”. You could either “fight the man” or realize that “high school is today and I’m getting out of this one-horse po-dunk when I’m done in XXXX days”. Most, still even, choose the latter if they can.
Manjari commented on Jun 19 09 at 4:27 pmWhat Chiken said.
Twyla commented on Jun 19 09 at 10:13 pmThank you Shannon. I did catch that in the original reading. I do think that bullies will bully anyone for any reason. The bullies that come from poor homes pick on poor kids. The bullies that wear out-of-style clothes pick on the fashion unfortunate. I think a bully will bully whatever and whoever is closest. To assume that the kids who pick on gays disapprove of the sexual orientation is maybe true, maybe not. Who is to say that the mean kids wouldn’t say they would be for homosexual marriage? Just a thought.
MyPersonalOpinion commented on Jun 20 09 at 1:05 amIt doesn’t surprise me that the majority of teens are okay with the gay population, teenagers seem to take a stance of “Hey, do whatever you want!” So it makes sense that the majority of teenagers are pro-gay and also liberal democrates. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, I’m just saying.
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