Nearly two-thirds of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community says they feel less safe because of their sexuality or gender identity since President Donald Trump took office. The poll was conducted by SurveyMonkey and shared exclusively with Time.
The poll among members of the LGBT community also found a growing sense of cynicism as well. Back in 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal, 93 percent of the LGBT community felt that acceptance would increase greatly over the next decade.
That number has fallen to 83 percent in June of 2017.
Also, the number of people who said acceptance would increase “greatly” fell from 54 percent to 34 percent. So, the intensity has gone down as well.
The poll also showed that LGBT Americans skew toward the left of the political spectrum as well. In the 2016 election, only 12 percent voted for Donald Trump, while 67 percent voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 57 percent generally identified as Democrats, while 35 percent said they are Independents.
Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they had been treated differently because of their sexuality or gender identity since Trump took office.
These results were not surprising to Rebecca Isaacs of the Equality Federation, and LGBT advocacy group. She pointed to several political moves Trump has made that would make members of the LGBT community nervous.
President Donald Trump has rolled back Obama-era efforts to count and collect other data on LGBT Americans. The movement was a largely symbolic one for LGBT visibility, but allowing the government to collect data would allow them to better make policies to help members of the LGBT community.
President Trump has also rolled back protections for transgender students in schools as well. Obama issued guidance on discrimination policies in schools, saying that the schools must treat transgender students in accordance with their gender identity.
Also, many LGBT people are nervous after President Trump appointed a conservative Supreme Court justice, Neil Gorsuch, to replace the late Antonin Scalia.
This is what President Trump said about gay rights during the Republican National Convention (after the jump):
Featured image via YouTube screenshot.
