Yougov poll on what Britons think of L,G,B, and T people.

[ArabeIIaScott]

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/articles-reports/2023/08/11/what-do-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-brito

'...the British public express more positive views of the queer community than lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Britons expect.Around half of Britons say they hold positive views of gay and lesbian people (54%) and bisexuals (50%), while 39% say the same of transgender people. A third or slightly more (33-39%) have a neutral view of each group.'

(It's unclear whether YouGov told LGB or T people whether they'd be referring to them as 'queer', or asked whether they were okay with that.)

Looks like a very simple, if not simplistic, question. But still, I thought some may find it of interest.

Maybe worth noting that there seemst to be growing division between attitudes towards the different letters in the 'LGBT' acronym.

For reference, and without wishing to derail, less than 1% of the UK's 'non-straight' population used 'queer' to refer to themselves, from Yougov's own poll.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/articles-reports/2023/07/28/lgbt-lgbtq-lgbtqia-what-acronym-does-queer-communi

How sad that 44% of the respondents are not positive towards L, G and B though. I mean I've encountered this homophobia and biphobia in my life but it still surprises me that it's so high in this day and age.

Sorry, 44% towards L and G and 50% towards B.

I'd say that was a bit of a negative way of looking at the results?

'Only 7% of Britons say they have a negative view of lesbian and gay people, and only marginally more have a negative view of bisexual Britons (9%).'

To me, sexuality between consenting adults should be an irrelevance. People just shouldn't care (unless it's directly relevant, so in a sex/relationship situation) - so a neutral response seems perfectly logical.

I think if you lump them all in together, yes, the response will be positive.

Separate out the T bit though, and (given last weeks news that 30% didn't actually realise that TW means men) tell them what it means...and the results would be very different...

80% are either positive or neutral though. I think I would have put neutral- I think it's great that gay and lesbian people can love who they want, but it doesn't make me feel positive about them as individuals in and of itself iyswim.

What I did find interesting was that gay men are less likely to be positive about transgender people than lesbians (the most positive group I think). Opposite to what I would have expected.

Well I wonder if it is bad? If I was asked, I would be indifferent. The same as I would with any other group of people. Somebody is gay, or straight, or lesbian, or black, or disabled, or anything, it's just a shrug of the shoulder, so what, I have no option either way on whether some group is good or bad, that's down to the individuals within. I'll reserve my judgement for them when I know them.

The survey does separate out all the letters in the acronym. And views differ.

That was my reaction, too. I have no idea how I would answer this survey. Maybe ask if the question could be reworded?

Not forgetting the recent poll that found many in the UK, especially young people, didn't really know what a trans person was!

Clearly any survey like this needs to set out in advance what they mean by the terms they use.

@ArabeIIaScott ah yes so it does, and I just looked it up and I actually meant 35%didn't understand, not 30 %. That makes more sense for T. 39% minus 35% equals 4% which is probably about right.

So an individual whose job description is “Head of Data Journalism” wrote an article about the views of “the queer community” and “young queer Britons” without defining “queer” or specifying how youGov went about identifying “1,000 queer Britons”?

I note that the use of “sexual minorities” could mean that yougov’s definition of the “queer community” goes wider than same-sex orientation (and could, presumably, include heterosexuals who are into swinging, BDSM, or other sexual interests).

Then, having limited their survey to “queer Britons” they found that 53% of those “queer Britons” who answered this survey included the letter Q in their preferred acronym. Well, there’s a surprise.

And what on earth is this supposed to mean? “plus represents those who don’t identify with one of the letters in the acronym” So how are they part of the group then? Is the plus intended to cover BDSM and swinging?

I wonder what the Lesbians were though? A woman who is in a relationship with a tw might call herself a lesbian. Although they've separated for sex, it still seems they may have allowed a tw to call himself a lesbian. As for tm, feck knows!

I’m surprised it’s not more negative considering all the negative press stories about trans identified males the past year. The rapist in Scotland, the breastfeeding trade unionist etc.

The fact YouGov use terms like ‘cisgender’ makes me distrusting of the results as they’re using the gender ideology language, not exactly unbiased are they?

There’s a difference between not being actively positive and being homophobic.

I think the way they phrased the questions was really odd.

It's a weird question.
If I was asked how I felt about pretty much any group of people, I'd probably say neutral.

I'm surprised the percentage saying "positively" is so high, TBH. From the OP's link, the question was worded as

How positively or negatively would you say [you personally] view lesbian and gay people / bisexual people / transgender people?
Very positively
Fairly positively
Neither positively nor negatively
Don't know
Fairly negatively
Very negatively

(I'm surprised they didn't separate out people's view of lesbians and view of gay men; those two groups are often treated completely differently in public discourse.)

I'm actually in one of the groups being asked about, and I would've said "neither positively or negatively" for all groups. A blanket positive view of a group is just another type of prejudice, albeit perhaps not the most damaging type.

“An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words. Many people refer to the community of people who are not heterosexual (i.e. not straight), or who do not have the same gender identity they were assigned at birth, by using an acronym typically beginning with the letters 'LGB'... What acronym do you typically use to describe this community?”

This was the question asked in that “what acronym do you prefer?” survey.

Yes, exactly.

I am very positive about the + community . How can you not be positive about a bunch of people who define themselves by such a positive symbol?

Is ambivalence frowned upon now? I would answer neutral to my own demographic (heterosexual) as all groups contain myriad individuals, some upstanding and some reprehensible.

Put another way: I'm not into holy castes, however it's dressed up.

Also, as other posters have also replied, it's an odd question.

It's the fact that the only acceptable way to view the L, G, and B grouping is positively while the rational way to view heterosexual people would be neutral, in a sense of "well, that group contains all sorts so it really depends on individuals". Those who decided to push the public past acceptance and on into needing to view the L, G, and B grouping more positively than everyone else has done them a disservice.

I am very positive about the + community . How can you not be positive about a bunch of people who define themselves by such a positive symbol?

Exactly - and of course it is inclusive as it means everyone!

But you can be heterosexual and fit somewhere in the TQIA2S+++++++.

Hmm, interesting. If the question were “how positively or negatively do you view heterosexuals?” that would seem a very odd question indeed, wouldn’t it.

Whereas that question is used for same-sex orientation and a neutral “neither positively nor negatively, same as for any other group” response seems to be regarded as an unsupportive answer.