Roy Moore is the conservative front-runner in the race to fill Jeff Sessions’ senate seat in Alabama, and his social positions are more aligned with 1917 than they are 2017.
In fact, CNN recently unearthed this gem of a soundbite from 2005:
“Homosexual conduct should be illegal, yes.”
Charming.
But just how disconnected is Moore from the rest of America? Well, maybe not as much as you’d think, and certainly not as much as you’d hope.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
It turns out Gallup polling has been monitoring the shifting public opinion on whether gay sex should be a criminal act in the U.S. since the 70s.
The Washington Post dug up the data, which shows that a fifth of Americans still to this day believe that gay relations should be against the law.
Some other interesting takeaways: A narrow margin of acceptance in the ’70s was thrown into a turbulent regression in the ’80s with the rise of HIV/AIDS.
Also, for a brief moment just before Moore’s comments, more Americans polled thought same-sex relations should be illegal than they did legal. This isn’t the 1950s we’re talking about, it’s 2004. As the graph shows, however, the trend towards acceptance is clear as day.
But as the Washington Post and further polling indicates, the rate at which Americans are arriving at acceptance is not uniform.
The General Social Survey shows how it breaks down by party affiliation, with Republicans clearly being the most resistant to change:
The numbers get even scarier when you look at “strong Republicans”:
While Moore in no way represents the majority of viewpoints, the number who do agree with his backwards remarks is a long way from zero.
reallythough
The National Science Foundation has repeatedly surveyed the US population and found that ~25% of them believe that the sun goes around the Earth. I’ve been in medical research for almost 20 years, and seen a hell of a lot of polls and surveys, and found that even if you ask the simplest questions you’ll always get at least ~10% that give responses that are shockingly uninformed or illogical. I believe the real lesson from the data cited in the article is that the trend towards acceptance, not the actual current percentage.
Kate Mullet
Queerty comments that are thoughtful, supported by experience and data, and productive?
WTF is happening, Queerty?!!! You are slipping!!!
MacAdvisor
The Earth *does* go around the Sun. That is a readily observable phenomenon from the perspective of the Earth. To deny it is to deny reality. Of course, the Earth also goes around the Sun. Both also revolve around an infinite number of points in between.
What goes around what depends entirely on the observation platform. Some 500 years ago, Nicolaus Copernicus placed the Sun at the center of the universe, not the Earth, and the math for predicting celestial orbits got much easier. However, this fellow named Albert Einstein in 1915 proposed the Theory of General Relativity. One of its basic premises is there is not a fixed universal reference frame. What is true depends on the view point of the observer. Thus, the suggestion the Earth revolves around the Sun AND the Sun revolves around the Earth are both true, depending on the view point.
While I doubt that 25% understands why their answer is as correct as any other, they are not wrong. From their view point, they are absolutely correct.
reallythough
@MacAdvisor
NO. The sun orbits the Earth. The Earth is not flat. We sent and landed humans on the Moon. This “everyone has a right to an opinion on everything and all viewpoints are equally valid” and “all facts are relative” is just complete bullshit and it’s corrosive to humanity. There are facts, and there is bullshit.
Sam6969
I agree with reallythough. As the Sun mass is 332 946 times the mass of earth, the curved space around the sun makes the earth revolve around the sun. It is the PHYSICAL reality and the actual meaning of the question.
The fact there are different reference frames does not change that fact.
We used to think the sun revolved around the earth, but science enlightened us….well, except maybe 25% of the US population, who is either poorly educated or has understanding difficulties.
MacAdvisor
reallythough, I am not sure a difference between revolves around and orbits (“obit” is defined as, “the curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a star, planet, or moon, especially a periodic elliptical revolution” and “revolve” is, “move in a circle on a central axis”). I have not suggested the world is flat. I am not suggesting all facts are relevant, I am suggesting that physics has advanced beyond Copernicus, beyond assuming one object is fixed as the center of all. There is not a fixed reference frame of observation. One cannot know the position of a subatomic particle and its vector at the same time. A cat can be both alive and dead. One can accept modern science or be one of those people who thinks the Earth is flat.
jorgecruz
@macadvisor your brain must revolve around uranus because you are always talking out of your ass. No one cares about your pointless observations that are completely irrelvant to the article.
MacAdvisor
jorgecruz, I will hold you in The Light. You must truly be in paid to write such nasty things to someone you don’t know anything about. You have my sympathy.
Xzamilloh
This isn’t shocking in the least. Poll evangelical Christians and the numbers are absolutely horrendous. I feel like a dozen caveats should have been added to this survey, because many beliefs and ideologies form opinions on matters such as homosexuality and gay sex. Muslims in America tend to be more accepting of homosexuality than in other parts of the world and that has a lot to do with the fact that no religion is the law of the land here and American Christians and Muslims on the whole don’t take their faith that seriously… (in my Martha Stewart) and that is a good thing.
Paco
The historic trend is on a positive trajectory regarding acceptance about same sex sexual activity.
Billysees
And the trend ‘should be’ on such a trajectory. Butt sex is probably the most objectionable and may be that way for some time. Mutual or side-by-side masturbation is great sex and I can’t imagine anyone objecting to that. Masturbation of any kind always satisfies and is probably the most enjoyed by LGBT folks.
JoeyRamone
So sorry you had a bad experience with “butt sex,” Beavis. But, hopefully, the world will continue to spin and the sun will rise again tomorrow.
ptb2016
Do those objecting to gay sex actually know what that means, or are they fixated by just the idea of anal sex? And if that’s all it’s about do they also think it should be banned for heterosexual sex? And while they’re at it, what other sexual acts do their outdated religions think should not be allowed? And where is their authority for this, surely not that more than 4000 year old book written by wandering tribesmen in the middle eastern desert. Nobody has the right to go into adults bedrooms and tell them what they can and can’t do. And surely if they believe in a creative power they are in no place to criticise his/her work. It’s bad enough telling us it’s wrong to love someone of the same sex. Bet they never tried imagining what it would be like if the powers that be told them it’s a sick disgusting thing to be attracted to someone of the opposite sex!
radiooutmike
Frankly, I think they’re fixated on anal sex.
Sodomy as defined includes oral sex as well, but you won’t find a lot of evangelicals against gays solely on the basis of oral sex, maybe as an adjunct though.
I find it most unusual that religious opposition to it is not consistent with their own idea of man created in god’s image. Why would a god put a bundle of nerves in a secondary sexual gland (with respect to intercourse itself) for men that can only be directly stimulated through anal sex?
Both men and women can find anal sex pleasurable and orgasmic.
It’s just 4000 years of higher ups telling us that our bodies are wrong, for if we start listening to our bodies, we also may start listening to our brains as well.
hansniemeijer
Please stop reporting on these “Christians”, their beliefs make me sick.
QUEERTY could do a lot better by reporting on more positive subjects.
Frank McGinness
The PC that runs amok through my thinking is no one is sexually free when sex is attenuated by forced circumutilation. It’s perverse – “Sure go on get married. You two together, enjoy what’s left of your dicks.”
No let’s remember the politics of who codified into law protecting the right to knife another’s penis and off its parts withOut limit – Calif AB 768 2011 overseen and fast tracked by Mark Leno (made by Fiona Ma & Mike Gatto); HR 1150 signed by exiting Obama, who’s PEPFAR has been coercing and forcing men, boys, babies with two mass circumcision groups culled from grade school systematically amputated their foreskins, boys screaming in pain being held down without their permission and without and against their parent’s permission and knowledge (under purview Baylor Medical). I hope this makes for better understanding to beware.
amigay
No one ever landed on the moon folks….that was all filmed on a movie set, Lot 14 at MGM Studios as it happens, in Hollywood.
MacAdvisor
The MGM studios were in Culver City, not Hollywood. Rather undermines your claim of specific knowledge if you don’t even know what city the studios were located in.
Kris
America is sick with religion. A disease that has spread far and wide…
GayEGO
it is shocking how this day and age there are still so many that are unwilling to change their dark ages thinking, likely believing the world is flat and the Sun revolves around the Earth.
Here is proof about myself that shows they are wrong, although they probably would say I am evil! :>)
– Best thing I ever learned in church – God gave us a brain and expects us to use it.
– I remember when I was born and my mother verified it.
– Immediately after, I was in a crib in the hospital and was attracted to a sailor.
– I fooled around with boys when we were too young to have sex.
– I fooled around with boys when we were old enough to have sex.
– I could not be aroused by a girl.
– I came out in the Navy, kept my military life and personal life separate.
– I met my lifetime partner of 55 years when I was in the Navy.
– I was honorably discharged, worked and paid my bills and taxes.
– We got married in Massachusetts in 2004 and are both retired, living the American Dream.
mhoffman953
In the interest of fairness, I’d like to see the numbers of other religions around the world and how they view this topic. Something tells me that Queerty won’t dare report that
Nahald
Too lazy to look that up yourself?
mhoffman953
@Nahald
No, it’s because I know the answer. Islam hates gays way more than Christians but that’s not a talking point for liberals.
Plus, why did you call yourself lazy in the next set of comments by responding to yourself?
MacAdvisor
mhoffman953, I will pit the hatred of the Westboro Baptist Church as Christians agains the muslims in my local mosque anytime.
Nahald
For all those who think gay sex should be a crime, maybe cheating on your spouse, or sex before marriage should also be crimes, right ?
Nahald
Too lazy to look that up yourself?