THE ADVOCATE POLL.

SPONSORED BY SAAB | www.advocate.com

The reader polls appearing in The Advocate and on www.advocate.com during he past year may not be scientific, but they provide a fascinating glimpse of what gays and lesbians have been thinking concerning current events and of how headlines relate to real lives. For this special issue we've collected polls on related subjects--from AIDS to youth--to offer a more complete overview of what's on our minds.

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN', and Advocate readers know it. While 75% of respondents said they were not really out of the closest in high school, more than 80% in another online poll said they are now involved in supporting the rights of today's increasingly out and proud gay youth. One poll found that 80% of respondents knew they are gay before 16, even if they couldn't express it. "I graduated from high school in 1995.... The word `gay' was not even used back then," one reader told us. Added another: "Are you crazy? In northern Arkansas in the late '60s, I'd have been burned at the stake." A currently out 11th-grader countered, "I came out in the ninth grade, and it was not easy, [but] I have gained a lot of respect from a lot of people.... If you're ready, [coming out] will make you stronger and get you ready for life after high school." But with 68% reporting high-school harassment on the basis of their perceived sexual orientation, there's clearly still a long way to go in guaranteeing all gay and lesbian youths their rights. A sobering 81% of respondents said that gay and lesbian issues have yet to be addressed in high schools in their area.

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CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS LEADERS who are determined to deny gay people equal access to their rites face one big obstacles: gay people of faith. Although 68% of Advocate readers (left) said they have had difficulty reconciling their sexuality with their religion and 71% in another poll said that they have left an organized religion because of it's stance on gay issues, many have not lost faith. "I still love [Southern Baptist] people," wrote one reader. "and am still religious personally, but I can no longer support the denomination." A former Catholic added, "God gave us a free spirit to established a personal relationship with our creator, in whatever form one chooses." Added one Metropolitan Community Church member: "I pray for the day when inclusion wins." Will it win?

Almost 60% of respondents believe that reform Judaism's embrace of same-sex relationships will affect other religious bodies. "When one [faith] chooses to support a cause, the others cannot help but take notice and consider it for themselves," one reader wrote hopefully. Another added, "Some have to realized that hate occupies too much space ... that can be so easily filled with love."

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WE ARE OF TWO MINDS WHEN IT COMES TO THE WEB: While we may frequent chat rooms and Web sites and chum out E-mail in large numbers, an overwhelming 87% of respondents said the Internet has not lured them away from local gay and lesbian businesses. "I would rather get in my car and travel the busy Atlanta roads than be spammed all day on the Internet," wrote respondent. Added another: "Why forgo that welcoming glance from the real-life stranger in aisle 3?" One reader who patronizes Internet retailers nevertheless lamented the recent closure of a gay business in his town: "[I] wonder if they would still be in business if I had made more of my purchases there?

Almost 40% of online respondents said the Internet gold rush has had a direct economic impact on their lives, and 47.5% said that even with the uncertainty of current Web star-ups, they'd be more likely to invest if the Internet business were gay-owned. One argued that "gays and lesbians are more productive, more dedicated, and more ingenious than our heterosexual counterparts," while another stated simply, "I feel like the gay dollar is stronger than the normal dollar."

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ADVOCATE READERS REMAIN VERY ENGAGED and informed when it comes to HIV and AIDS, Not only are 74% of respondents ready to step up to the plate for a vaccine trial, 62.7% in another poll reported that they have been actively involved with an AIDS organization within the previous three months. Many believe the rest of the country is also more receptive: In one online poll, 60% said it has become easier for sports figures to talk about their HIV status, while the same percentage agreed that increased safe-sex campaigning could make a difference in San Francisco, where HIV infection rates are reportedly climbing. Nor is HIV Advocate readers' only concern in practicing safer sex--76.8% said they also have other considerations in mind. "There are a lot more sexual disease out there," one wrote. "I also consider the person themselves." Another added, "The type of sex I have was safe long before t was called that. I enjoy ... full skin-to-skin contact. This is not to say that t advocate unsafe sex. It just means [you have to be] creative."

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"INFIGHTING HAS DRIVEN ME CRAZY!" wrote a poll respondent, one of the 64% who reported a bad experience because of bickering among gay and lesbian people (left). "We should be focusing on how to unite, not how to divide." Another added, "Too many `queens' rush to be the lead majorette, then display a unique tack of a sense of direction." The battling won't end, wrote one reader, "until the community is willing to accept diversity and not just pay lip service to diversity." Yet one more optimistic reader added, "I have been lucky [to miss any infighting]. But ... I don't think you can ever expect human beings to always get along." More than 70% of Advocate readers say one particular person or event spurred them to activism, and less than half reported that they've experienced a negative reaction to displaying a gay flag or other symbol. One point most could agree on: The media pay more attention to activist parents than to their gay and lesbian children.

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THE IMPULSE TO PAIR OFF and then to certify our relationships remains strong among Advocate readers--and an impressive 82% in one poll said they'd give it whirl with currently single novelist Armistead Maupin. (Partnered Boyzone singer Stephen Gately attracted dating interest from 90.2%.) An overwhelming 84.9% of respondents said they'd consider it going to Vermont for a civil union ceremony, while 41.9% reported that their relationships are already recognized by their employer or their local government. And how healthy are those relationships? Almost 80% said they'd never had a sexual encounter turn violent, and many wrote about their long, peaceful partnerships. "I dated my spouse for eight months before we decided to make it permanent, and during those months we never got beyond kissing," one reader told us. "Our love has lasted for over 30 years, so I'd recommend the dating route for anyone interested in finding and nurturing a long-term relationship." Relationship role models are important to many readers, as 68.1% said they were emotionally affected by the breakups of Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche and Melissa Etheridge and Julie Cypher.

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THE ADVOCATE'S UNSCIENTIFIC ONLINE POLL about Bill Clinton--in which three quarters of respondents said they'd have punched his chad if given the chance on the 2000 ballot--produced a division remarkably similar to a scientific exit poll of gay and lesbian voters on November 7, in which 71% supported Democrat Al Gore and 25% voted for Republican George W. Bush. In an election year of deep division, Advocate readers continued to lean heavily toward the Democratic Party. "I have no faith in current Republicans to give up on the money-making bogeyman of homophobia," wrote one reader. Countered a gay Log Cabin Republican: "The GOP values individuals and has really changed in the last few years." Yet in one online poll, fewer than 20% believed that Republican senator John McCain's more centrist presidential candidacy would soften his party's antigay stances, while almost 67% believed a Democratic Congress would make a gay-inclusive hate-crimes law a priority. A similar majority--71%--believe that hate-crimes laws do indeed help prevent the crimes they outlaw.

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