Just in time for Pride Month, Vanity Fair released the results of their survey about millennial views on LGBTQ rights and religious freedom.
When they commissioned it as part of their Millennial Takeover project, they were likely expecting overwhelming support from millennials on LGBTQ rights. Yet, with all the talk of millennials being the most “progressive” generation, it seems they haven’t completely lost their sense of priorities.
The survey found that while 77 percent of female millennials believe a business shouldn’t be able to refuse service to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer individuals based on the owner’s or employee’s beliefs, only 59 percent of male millennials agreed. Thirty-nine percent of male millennials and 20 percent of female millennials said companies should have such a right.
While this is not terrific news for social conservatives, it offers some hope for the future.
The survey was the result of a collaboration between the Vanity Fair’s mobile-first microsite called Hive, a membership-based site targeting female millennials called theSkimm, and Survey Monkey.
Unsurprisingly, the survey found that Republican millennials were more likely to believe that religious freedom should have priority over LGBTQ rights. Moreover, 60 percent of conservative millennial women believe LGBTQ equality has been achieved and more than 70 percent of conservative male millennials agreed. Liberal millennials swung the opposite direction. Despite the Democratic Party’s stance on LGBTQ rights, however, only 15 percent of liberal millennials considered the issue a top priority.
The survey also found that most millennials feel “agnostic” about the stances of businesses on LGBTQ issues, and that their own employer is doing enough to support LGBTQ employees.
Vanity Fair’s article on the survey repeatedly calls out Republican millennials, especially men, for their lack of interest in LGBT issues, and blames them for bringing down the numbers. Independents, however, still make up a large percentage of millennials — 42 percent according to a 2017 Gallup poll. These folks are tired of being told what to believe by a political party, or they have been turned off by their preferred party’s fickleness or inaction.
If this survey is accurate, conservatives have a lot of work to do in educating millennials about freedom. As LGBTQ advocates dominate the mainstream media, this will remain an uphill battle. It doesn’t help that 36 percent of young millennials are unaffiliated with any faith.
Still, a substantial number of millennials have not completely bought into the Left’s arguments and grasp the importance of religious freedom. The rise of the Islamic State and other Muslim extremists in recent years has shed a bright light on what happens when that right is violated or not properly defended. Ultimately, it’s more important to be free than to be “woke.”
