Another one of my little curiosities. I love the fact that we can post polls. Oops, ran out of room on the title. It's supposed to say "Where is your community and how much has it changed in the past few years on LGBTQ rights?"
I recently moved to a town in NJ which is self proclaimed "gay friendly" They have a pride day and a small parade. Amazing.
I voted N. America, more accepting, because I moved, essentially, to a very liberal town when I left for college. But back home, there's no change, I'm fairly certain.
I was tempted to choose "North America - No Change", but I've forgotten that South Carolina has done some small changes in favor of LGBT individuals (like including sexuality in the "no discrimination" disclosures for several colleges and universities), so I chose "more accepting" even though it's just a tiny bit.
Europe, positive change. More and more countries are allowing gay marriage or are planning to allow it (France, UK for example). The Netherlands already had same sex marriage so no change there, but our government decided kids should have lessons on homosexuality and transgender, so they're more aware of the subject and therefore probably less hateful. So yay, progression!
I voted: Europe, there has been positive change. Although I don't believe there's been huge positive change in how LGBTQ people are viewed and treated across Europe, I think that looking at government legislation which is being planned in France, the UK, Luxembourg and Finland for same-sex marriage to be introduced, we can say that there has been positive change - in comparison to the politics in the US, Europe is such a forward looking continent.
UK: a remarkably rapid change. There is now quite easily a lot more shame in being homophobic than homosexual.
I moved to northern Ohio for school and the town that I am in is really accepting. My hometown has made some progress when it comes to being accepting though.
" on 1 December 2006 South Africa became the fifth country in the world, and the first in Africa, to legalise same-sex marriage." Over here there was a rapid change somehow. Luckily it was for the good and not the bad :icon_bigg
Ha, I'm originally from West Texas, and it seems like my hometown has become more accepting. Maybe I'm just being overly optimistic, but it really seems like people there have started appreciating the arts more and becoming more open-minded in general. Slacker-artsy types (which stereotypically are chock full of homos ) have started gravitating toward the university there, slowly displacing all the rednecks and douchey wealthy kids that it's become known for, which has an effect on the whole city feels given that it kinda revolves around the university.
Europe, no change. Still haters, still those political supporters who do so because it fits their idea of of what they stand for, rather than because it's the right thing to do. I want rights because I have a right to them, not because it's a good political or idealistic idea.
I live in the "Bible Belt" so change is either minimal or non existent. However, I think North America is more accepting overall.
I'll agree with this. Where I live, people are willing to look the other way if you shut up, but when it comes time to demand equal rights, people get nasty. I've seen nothing but negative change in my community these past few years.
I'm in the UK, so (unfortunately ) Europe. Definitely much more accepting. In the UK alone, civil partnerships were brought in 7 years ago for gay peeps, and now, if all goes well, we should have both civil and religious marriage by the stars of 2014!
Well where I live in North America, I can't be out to everyone because it is an invitation to make fun of me more... I hate small towns...
Sadly, with the USA, we have become too politically correct. When this country began passing all of the anti-bullying laws, they were forced to include EVERYONE including the LGBT community. I think more people were forced to be accepting of the LGBT community rather making the actual personal decision to accept. As far as the states who legalized gay marriage....I think most people's views were 'If we pass this, how does this directly affect me?'....which it doesn't affect anyone but the LGBT community. Another reason it appears that the USA is more accepting is because of 'Hollywood'. We see more and more gay and lesbian characters on TV shows. We also see famous people coming out of the closet. I don't know why people are more accepting because it's someone famous...I don't get that. Michael Jackson is the perfect example of this.
This is pretty optimistic. Out of the 64 current voters only 1 person felt that there area has gotten worse, and only 5 have felt there wasn't improvement. That's pretty neat.