Polling Priorities that Perplex Purists. Gays
and lesbians overwhelmingly say the right to marry should now be
the number-one priority of the gay rights movement, dwarfing those
who identify equal employment opportunities and hate crimes
legislation, according to a new poll by
Zogby International (the highly regarded national polling outfit)
and GLCensus Parnters (a "GLBT Consumer Research" firm associated
with the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University). Here are the
percentages of lesbian and gay (and bisexual and transgendered)
respondents identifying the "top priority":
Marriage rights: 47%
Equal employment opportunities: 16%
Hate crimes legislation: 9%
Increased gay representation in government: 7%
While nearly half of gays and lesbians call marriage the top priority, the percentage was even more pronounced among younger respondents (51% of those aged 18 to 24). So why is ENDA (the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act) the number-one priority of Washington-based lesbigay lobbies? And why was the leadership of the Log Cabin Republicans pilloried by ENDA supporters for daring to raise the issue of re-accessing movement priorities?
Another nifty finding: 48% of those polled would like the media to refer to our community as "gay" or "gay and lesbian" or "lesbian and gay"; 39% favor GLBT (that's gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender) or LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender). So, naturally, a growing number of activist groups have gone with GLBT or LGBT. Even the press release accompanying the poll results stated at top that "most prefer media to use "GLBT" vs. "LGBT" -- -- as if that was the most important finding from the naming question. It figures.