Gay Today: World

New York Magazine Sees
'Landslide Level of Tolerance'

Compiled By GayToday

New York, New York--A recent survey conducted for New York Magazine's 'Gay Life Now' issue found a landslide level of tolerance and openness regarding homosexuality.

The poll found that straight New Yorkers are widely supportive of issues that affect gays and lesbians, such as adoption, marriage and discrimination. In fact, when compared to a national sample, New Yorkers are twice as likely to support legalizing gay marriage.

"The poll paints a picture of a city in which most straight people are not only comfortable with gays but socially and professionally intimate with them as well," reports New York Magazine in its first-ever gay issue hitting stands today.

Among the findings:

Forty-six percent of straight New Yorkers have a gay male close friend, while 31 percent have a close friend who is a lesbian;

Seventy-one percent of straight New Yorkers would be likely to vote for an openly gay candidate for mayor;

Forty-nine percent would be comfortable with an openly gay babysitter for their children;

Sixty-six percent of straight New Yorkers believe gay and lesbian relationships are as likely as heterosexual relationships to be loving, long-term, and monogamous;

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Compared to a national sample, New Yorkers are twice as likely to support legalizing gay marriage (60 percent versus 34 percent);

Over three-quarters (78 percent) think the State's current hate crimes law should include gays and lesbians;

Two-thirds (65 percent) of straight New Yorkers feel that gays and lesbians should be free to adopt children;

Residents of the five boroughs and the surrounding New York and New Jersey suburbs are nearly equally tolerant of gays and gay issues.

Yet the poll also found lingering intolerance and isolation, and considerable divide between the number of gays and lesbians who are "out" at their workplaces. In addition, HIV and the AIDS virus continue to be a major concern for the gay and lesbian community.

Gays and lesbians are twice as likely to fear contracting the disease than are straight New York area residents (40 percent versus 20 percent) and four out of five gays and lesbians (85 percent) personally know someone who has contracted HIV or has AIDS and 75 percent have lost a friend or loved one to the disease.

The survey, conducted by Global Strategy Group, Inc., also found that gay New Yorkers have a more active nightlife than straight New Yorkers. Thirty-one percent of gays and lesbians go out to nightclubs one to two times a month or more, (compared with 16 percent of straight New Yorkers), 33 percent go to the theatre once a month or more (compared with 13 percent) and 29 percent eat out at restaurants three or four times a week (compared with 17 percent).

The poll was conducted February 4 to February 8 from a random sample of 308 New York City residents from all five boroughs and 292 residents of surrounding New York and New Jersey counties, plus an oversample of 300 gay and lesbian New York-area residents. The margin of error is +/-4 and +/-5.7 percent for the oversample