Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> <http://pewresearch.org/pubs/485/friends-who-are-gay>
>
> May 23, 2007
> Four-in-Ten Americans Have Close Friends or Relatives Who are Gay
> Survey finds Familiarity Is Closely Linked to Greater Tolerance
>
> by Shawn Neidorf , Research Associate Pew Research Center for the
> People & the Press
> and Rich Morin, Senior Editor, Pew Research Center
Link this to a couple past arguments.
1. Conditions have to change before attitudes can change, so someway has always to be found to bring about a change in conditions before large numbers of people will support that change.
2. Change is always brought about in the first instance by a minority, only confirmed later, first by a larger minority, then by a majority. The steps here were (1) A very small and very pugnacious minority giving other gays the courage to come out in the open, leading (2) to more such pugnacious behavior, causing both more gays and more non-gays (still a minority) to affirm gay rights, and now (3) a slow gain to where a majority will accept gays. But none of this would ever have happened without a small minority "turning people off" (as the backward always claim) by pugnacious minority action.
Carrol