Poll finds declining Canadian support for LGBTQ2 rights and visibility | 24CA News
On the eve of Pride month, a brand new ballot has discovered declining assist for LGBTQ2 rights in Canada.
The Ipsos survey polled adults in 26 international locations on quite a lot of metrics measuring assist for the queer neighborhood.
Canada, it discovered, was among the many few international locations the place assist for rights and visibility appeared to register “precipitous drops,” Ipsos vice-president of public affairs Sanyam Sethi mentioned.
“What really stood out to me was how starkly Canadians are changing their opinions,” she mentioned.
“On some of these support aspects the drops in Canada are the highest across all 26 countries we have trend data for.”
One space the place attitudes appeared to have shifted was assist for LGBTQ2 visibility.
While 49 per cent of respondents agreed with folks being open about their sexual orientation or gender identification, that also put Canada within the backside 10 of nations measured.
What’s extra, the quantity was down by 12 per cent from 2021.
Similarly, the ballot discovered assist for LGBTQ2 folks exhibiting affection in public (kissing or holding palms) at 40 per cent, down eight factors from 2021.
Just one-third of respondents supported extra LGBTQ2 characters on display screen, down 10 per cent from 2021.
Annie Ohana, a B.C. trainer who additionally serves on the board of Surrey Pride mentioned the numbers have been troubling.
“You can exist, but don’t exist in front of me,” she mentioned.
Ohana mentioned she believed the info mirrored an aggressive marketing campaign concentrating on the LGBTQ2 neighborhood that has manifested in protests in opposition to SOGI-123 in colleges, drag occasions and helps for transgender folks.
“You see the language of ‘groomer’ and ‘pedophile’ out there, being put on everybody,” Ohana mentioned. “I think that’s really what’s leading to people thinking, ‘I might have a problem with this.”
The survey contained a number of different findings of concern to the LGBTQ2 neighborhood.
Just half of Canadian respondents to the survey supported brazenly homosexual lesbian, homosexual and bisexual athletes in sports activities groups, down 11 factors from 2021. Just one in 5 respondents supported transgender athletes.
It additionally discovered fewer Canadians are talking out in opposition to prejudice. Just below one in three respondents had spoken out in opposition to LGBTQ2 intolerance — about on par with the worldwide common, however down seven factors since 2021.
Just below half of respondents supported youngsters receiving gender-affirming care comparable to counselling and hormone alternative remedy with parental consent.
Sethi mentioned the report wasn’t all dangerous news for LGBTQ2 rights.
Seventy-five per cent of Canadian respondents backed same-sex unions, 4 factors above the worldwide common, whereas 70 per cent supported the rights of same-sex {couples} to undertake, seven factors above the worldwide common.
The Ipsos ballot was performed between Feb. 23 and March 8 2024, amongst 18,515 adults in 26 international locations. The samples consisted of between 500 and 1,000 respondents in every nation, together with 1,000 in Canada, with information weighted to mirror every state’s demographic profile based mostly on census data. The margin of error for the Canadian pattern was +/- 3.5 per cent.
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