It’s been nice to see a broad generational trend towards tolerance for LGBT+ people, considering the entrenched bigotry that seemed to pervade western societies until quite recently.
A new study suggests a darker side to this trend though, particularly among conservative voters. It turns out that if you ask them straight out, they’re not very tolerant of LGBT+ rights, gay marriage etc. But if you first prime them with pictures of Muslims, whose religion is widely known to be homophobic, they profess themselves much more tolerant of LGBT+, possibly as a way to justify anti-immigration views.
‘This may indicate that the liberal credentials of the UK, and other western nations, is likely far more superficial than first thought.’ Indeed!