Sex and gender

LA Times - Americans broadly support LGBTQ+ people living as they wish, with large majorities backing same-sex marriage, same-sex couples raising children and laws to protect queer people from job discrimination, according to a new nationwide poll for the Los Angeles Times. The public offers less support for transgender and nonbinary people. And support for all LGBTQ+ groups drops among Republicans, people who identify as Protestant and those who don’t personally know anyone queer, the poll found...

The poll, done for The Times by NORC at the University of Chicago and paid for by the California Endowment, was designed in part to re-ask questions from a groundbreaking survey on American perceptions of gay and lesbian people that The Times conducted in 1985. The results document a huge shift in American opinion over a nearly 40-year period.

In 1985, 72% of American adults said sexual relations between adults of the same sex were always or almost always wrong. Today, that has dropped to 28%.

 In 1985, 64% said they would be very upset if their child was gay or lesbian. Now, 14% said that.

 In 1985, 51% said they favored laws protecting gay and lesbian people from job discrimination. In the latest poll, 77% do.

Study Finds - A whopping 70% of Americans still believe true love exists! Sadly, one in five people who believe in the concept of true love feel they have yet to ever experience it (21%). The results come from a poll of 2,000 people surveyed by Talker Research, which found, thankfully, that our belief in true love rises among those in more serious relationships. While 70% believe in true love overall, that jumps to 88% for those married or engaged. Belief in the existence of true love dips to 79% for those in serious relationships, meaning one in five Americans with a steady partner don’t actually think it’s true love. Believing in “the one” or true love as a concept naturally falls among singles: 64% believe it may be possible and are keeping their hearts and minds open. However, that belief drops again for those divorced, widowed, or separated (62%). Of those who are married and who do believe in true love, 85% said their partner really is their one true love.

Washington Post - Republicans in at least 17 states have blocked largely Democratic-led attempts to pass laws assuring the right to birth control since 2022, according to a Washington Post examination of legislation. Most recently, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed a bill meant to ensure access to contraceptives, saying that while he personally supports such access, he was loath to “trample on the religious freedoms of Virginians,” including medical providers.

Former president Donald Trump recently suggested in a TV interview that he was open to restricting access to contraceptives. “We’re looking at that, and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly,” Trump told KDKA News in Pittsburgh when a political editor asked whether he supported any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception. Pressed further, Trump said, “Things really do have a lot to do with the states, and some states are going to have different policy than others.”  Trump walked back his comments after his advisers briefed him about the blowback on social media, according to a person close to the Trump campaign who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy. “I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

Daily Kos -  Two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Democrats in voting to move forward on a bill that would guarantee the ability for health care professionals to provide contraception and related information. The bill would also guarantee the rights of individuals to access contraception.  The Senate needed 60 votes to advance the legislation; the final vote was 51-39. Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., voted no in order to be able to bring up the bill under Senate rules at a later date.
Democrats say they are worried about access to contraception because the 1973 Roe decision was based, in part, on a 1965 contraception case known as Griswold v. Connecticut, which protected the rights of married couples to use contraception.   Friday will mark the 59-year anniversary of that decision. 

RBReich  posted: All nine Republican senators running for reelection this year just voted against the right to contraception...  So much for the party of "freedom."