Every time you witness homophobic bigotry on the Internet, remember this: By and large, America is ready and willing to support gay professional athletes.
Seventy-three percent of Americans say they would fully support a professional sports team that signed a gay or lesbian athlete, according to a new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit research organization. Only 19 percent of those surveyed said they would oppose such a decision.
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Jones also noted that while support for LGBT athletes has increased in the U.S. over the last 10 years, the survey found that a vast majority of Americans believe gay and lesbian athletes continue to face some discrimination in the world of professional sports. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed said gay and lesbian athletes face a lot of discrimination, and 32 percent said athletes face a little. Only 9 percent of those surveyed said they believe gay and lesbian athletes face no discrimination.
The PRRI survey was conducted over the phone from January 14 to 18, 2015, and interviewed 1,012 adults living in the U.S. This was the first year PRRI asked respondents about their views on gay and lesbian athletes.
