GLAAD Issues First-Ever ‘Electing Acceptance’ Candidate Survey to Measure LGBTQ Acceptance among 2018 Federal and State Candidates

Today, GLAAD announced its inaugural ‘Electing Acceptance’ candidate survey and midterm election project, which will assess the degree to which candidates running for U.S. House and U.S. Senate seats as well as Governor and Lieutenant governor in the states are accepting of LGBTQ people.

'Electing Acceptance’ is the first candidate survey in the organization’s 30+ year history and the only national candidate survey dedicated to LGBTQ acceptance.

The survey was distributed this week to over 400 candidates who are running in the November midterm elections, and will continue to be distributed as new candidates emerge.

The first seven questions in this survey mirror GLAAD and The Harris Poll’s annual Accelerating Acceptance report, which measures acceptance of LGBTQ people throughout the United States. In these items, GLAAD asked candidates how comfortable they are:

  • Having a member of the LGBTQ community at your place of worship
  • Learning that a member of your family is LGBTQ
  • Learning that your doctor is LGBTQ
  • If your child has a lesson on LGBTQ history in school
  • Seeing an LGBTQ co-worker’s wedding picture
  • With your child being placed in a classroom with an LGBTQ teacher
  • Seeing a same-sex couple holding hands

“Americans deserve to know if the candidates they are putting in positions to make important decisions about their lives, their families, and their communities match their own levels of comfort and acceptance when it comes to LGBTQ people,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO.

“LGBTQ Americans are among marginalized communities who will progress or be in peril based on the midterm election results. We must support candidates who support us,” Ellis continued. “President Trump gaslit Americans by claiming to support LGBTQ people on the campaign trail and then leading an Administration that has rolled out over 75 attacks on our community since he took office. Americans deserve to know which candidates truly accept the communities they wish to serve.”

This survey will provide LGBTQ people and allies with the information necessary to vote for candidates in the November 2018 midterm elections that will champion LGBTQ equality and acceptance and help to expose those candidates determined to further the Trump administration’s harmful and aggressive anti-LGBTQ agenda.

Additionally, the survey measures candidate support for the need for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that protects LGBTQ Americans from discrimination. Last month, GLAAD spotlighted the need for an amendment that protects against discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity and announced plans for a multi-year public education campaign on the topic.

“At a time when LGBTQ rights and acceptance are rolling back at an alarming rate, setting our sights on enshrining LGBTQ equality in the U.S. Constitution is a new bar that we all need to reach for,” said Ellis last month when she first spotlighted the need for a Constitutional amendment. “It’s time to amend the Constitution. GLAAD will lead a national conversation around how the lack of federal protections for LGBTQ people leaves our community vulnerable to pervasive discrimination.”

To voice support for this initiative, take action now at www.glaad.org/constitution

Results of ‘Electing Acceptance’ will be available beginning in September, along with a running list of campaigns that refuse to participate.

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