Acceptance of Gays Increasing?

I recently met a 20-something transgender girl who identifies as a traditionalist or Rockefeller Republican—being pro-business and anti-discrimination. On my same rounds I come across 19-year-old that has been out for, well, as long as he can remember. Scenarios like these would have been unfathomable just a few years ago.

The face of LGBT people is changing as we embrace the diversity within our own community. Unlike the Stonewall era where it was necessary to shout out 'queer' at ever turn, today individuals—especially younger ones—are much more interested in displaying their three-dimensional personalities, tastes and emotions rather than wearing their sexuality on their shoulders.

Is it possible that, as younger people become more comfortable with themselves, gay issues such as marriage and adoption will disappear in the near future? Post-label youth already see labels of sexuality as restricting (albeit, they themselves have been labeled). To them—and a growing number of teens and adults—sexuality is more fluid than the simplified definitions of gay or straight, more along Dr. Alfred Kinsey's line of reasoning. Our existing sexual "categories" are so riddled with dated generalizations (of both gay and straight people) that there's no room for the gay jock or the straight theater lover or any other person that's not neither uber-masculine nor pink clad.

Have younger generations tired of being filed into limited slots of existence? A recent poll by The New York Times, CBS News and MTV suggest this might be the case. The poll (conducted June 15-29) divided 659 individuals into two age categories, 17-29 and older. The results were not surprising: The younger participants had more progressive attitudes towards gay marriage and civil unions. 290 of 17-29 age group participants said gay couples should be allowed to marry, compared to 184 of the older group. (more)

Gay City News Editor-in-Chief Paul Schindler also sees a shift in our future. In a recent interview with Gay Life he talked of post-label youth:

"Younger people are a lot more comfortable about gay issues. There is an aging of the population and the people who are least comfortable with us are the oldest people. They're becoming less of a factor all the time."

He does urge caution, however, in their approach:

"It's important to find ways in which we have common political, and maybe even cultural, interests. We don't have to call ourselves the same thing, but I don't think we should be naive about the fact that there are a lot of other people who lump us in the same group."

Still, Jorge Valencia, Executive Director of The Point Foundation, sees the shift in public opinion as a liberating step forward:

It's fascinating to see a generation say, Don't label me. I'm still trying to figure this out in my own heart, mind and emotions.

Suggested Read:
Is There Really a Gay Generation Gap?

Definitions:
What is a post-label person?
What is a post-gay person?

_{Image © Ramone Johnson.}