Bigotry exists, but it’s almost impossible to prove. Discrimination, however, which is basically bigotry in action, can sometimes be documented. And yet we all know that bigotry and discrimination exist—and apparently we can see it in others.
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has released its “2009 Annual Religion and Public Life Survey” and there are some interesting results. Their interviewers asked respondents if it was their impression that there was “a lot of discrimination” against various groups.
64% of respondents said that gays and lesbians faced a lot of discrimination. That’s nearly two thirds—and more than any other group in the survey. What this seems to suggest is that Americans recognise that discrimination against gay and lesbian people is a fact, and that suggests that a clear majority of Americans could well be persuaded to support legislative remedies to deal with that discrimination.
The next most discriminated against group, according to the survey, were Muslims (58%). In the years since September 11, 2001, Americans have become better informed about Islam, though still only a bare majority know Muslims’ name for their god or their holy book. On the other hand, a plurality of Americans again answer “no” to the question, “Does Islam encourage violence more than other faiths?” (45% yes, 38% no). This suggests to me that Americans learn about groups they don’t understand only slowly, and even then are reluctant to give up prejudices. This could explain why so many Americans are susceptible to demagoguery, whether on race, ethnicity, religion, or sexuality.
The important thing to remember is that this survey does not indicate—and doesn’t claim to—who’s actually discriminated against or how much. Rather, it’s an indication of how Americans perceive discrimination. That’s part of what makes it so interesting.
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life “seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs. It studies public opinion, demographics and other important aspects of religion and public life in the U.S. and around the world.” It and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press are respected researches in issues of public affairs. Better still, their results are always free and provide a wealth of interesting data about the way people think.
Understanding is the first step toward transforming.
2 comments:
I think the telling bit was how people thought that Islam was considered the "most different" from their own religion in the second plot. Even beating out Hindu and Buddhism. Just the idea that several monotheists would go "Oh, Islam is way out of left field! Way crazier than Hinduism..." amuses me.
Otherwise, I would love to see a survey of how intolerant gays think certain groups are (especially if it can be a time series). THEN you will see a really interesting portrayal of bigotry... (all religions will be more intolerant after any sort of agenda smackdown... and I think blacks and hispanics were being labeled as primary non-tolerants when prop-8 was knocked down before people realized how their complaints made them look...) I'd just like to see it laid out to see whether LGBT peeps would need to understand and transform a few things...
I noticed that about the religion comparisons, too. Actually, every one of their studies I've ever read is filled with all sorts of interesting bits and pieces.
I would guess that GLBT people are inherently as intolerant or not as anyone else because we all come from the same homes. However, I think it's stretch to suggest, as you seem to, that GLBT people generally are all intolerant of a group because of the anti-gay antics—real or imagined—of that group. That's like saying that ALL conservatives or ALL Republicans are racist just because the radical vocal minority is.
It's also not true that the GLBT people who criticised African American or Hispanic Prop 8 voters stopped doing so because they "realized how their complaints made them look". What happened is that the rational sorts—and of course I include myself in that group—worked hard to debunk the myth of African American and Hispanic people being responsible for passing Prop 8.
It's also worth noting that part of the reason that myth took hold is that the right wing itself promoted it as a way of "proving" that GLBT civil rights weren't "real" like those of African Americans or Hispanics. Then, when some GLBT people took the bait and bought into the right wing's mythmaking, the right wing used that as "proof" of how "intolerant" GLBT people are—a double-whammy for their propaganda buck.
Since the election, careful analysis has shown that being a church-going religious person was a far better indicator of voting behaviour than race, ethnicity or class. I would say that most GLBT Californians now know that.
However, the mainstream media constantly picks far right christianists to provide "balance" in discussions of GLBT issues, so it's completely understandable that GLBT might consider religious folks to be adversaries, even if some might not be. The evidence we see all the time suggests that the strongest, most persistent and best-funded opposition to the civil and human rights of GLBT people comes from the religious right.
Do GLBT people sometimes get angry at the wrong group? Yep—just like every other segment of society. Are they too quick to suspect racial or ethnic minorities for being anti-gay? White GLBT people may be, but I've seen no evidence that white GLBT people are any more prejudiced or bigoted than white folk generally. In fact, I've seen GLBT people—especially activists—work harder to avoid operationalising any latent prejudice or bigotry they may have than do many non-gay activists.
To be honest, what annoys me about this sort of discussion is the insinuation that GLBT people have no right to feel aggrieved by the antics of those who try to make us second-class citizens (or worse). Those antics are real and insistent, and it's probably inevitable that we sometimes get the wrong end of the stick, as do our heterosexual siblings. The question is, do we learn and move on or wallow in our prejudice like our adversaries? From what I've seen, we move on.
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