As
another indicator that public opinion continues to shift in favor of
fairness, the vast majority of Americans support employment
non-discrimination laws protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination, according to new polling
released today by the Human Rights Campaign in partnership with
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. In perhaps the most compelling
finding, support for employment protections spans an array of
demographics including: the majority of Democrats, Republicans,
Independents, Catholics, Protestants, weekly churchgoers, and even born
again Christians, and across age and race. There is currently no
federal non-discrimination law covering sexual orientation or gender
identity and only limited state protections. Legislation to address
this issue, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), is pending in
Congress. HRC is working with allies on Capitol Hill to increase the
number of cosponsors and build support to pass ENDA.
The poll found a vast majority (77 percent) of voters support
protecting LGBT people from discrimination in employment. The support
for employment protections defies conventional political wisdom,
reaching across party and ideological lines. Seventy percent of
self-identified Republicans and 67 percent of conservatives support
anti-discrimination laws. Support is strong even among groups who tend
to be less supportive of LGBT issues, such as seniors (69 percent among
voters over age 65), those with a high school degree or less (68
percent), observant Christians (77 percent), born-again Christians (74
percent), and residents of the Deep South (72 percent).
In a finding showing a need for more public outreach and education for
employment non-discrimination laws, most voters believe
anti-discrimination laws already exist. Eighty-seven percent of voters
believe it is illegal under federal law to fire someone for being gay
and 78 percent believe it is illegal under state law. Even in states
without anti-discrimination laws, 75 percent of voters think it is
illegal under state law to fire someone for being gay or lesbian.
“We are at a cultural tipping point in the fight for LGBT equality,”
said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Support for employment protections
for LGBT workers is tipping the scale even further toward fairness for
all people. What is most promising is that people of all political,
religious, and ideological persuasions clearly support
non-discrimination laws protecting LGBT people.”
The telephone survey, including cell phones was conducted 11/9/11
through 11/13/11 among 800 likely voters. It has a margin of error of
+/- 3.46 percent. View the polling results at: http://hrc.org/files/assets/resources/ENDA_Polling_Memo_Dec_2011.pdf