It’s no surprise that the LGBT community feels under siege ever since President Donald Trump took office. Fortunately, we’re not just basing this on anecdotes or feelings as an LGBT poll has confirmed this.
According to a SurveyMonkey poll shared exclusively with TIME, almost two-thirds of LGBT people admitted feeling less safe with President Trump in office because of their sexuality or gender identity.
LGBT poll: Cynicism on acceptance
What’s more, the poll reported that the community was facing growing cynicism about gaining acceptance from society.
A previous poll by SurveyMonkey noted that after the 2015 Supreme Court decision, 93% of LGBT respondents felt that the level of societal acceptance would improve in a decade.
In this recent survey, that number had gone down to 83%.
When asked if the the country was going in the right direction, 92% said it was heading in the wrong direction. In a prior poll, 44% said the same thing when President Barack Obama was still in office.
The same poll confirmed other surveys that the LGBT community leans to the left generally as only 12% voted for Trump while 67% voted for Hillary Clinton.
In terms of parties, 7% were for the Republican Party while 57% were for Democrats and 35% favored independents.
Rebecca Isaacs, executive director of LGBT rights advocacy group Equality Federation, said this is not surprising given the actions of the Trump administration against the LGBT community: “There’s just a level of hostility.”
The online survey was conducted from June 21 to June 24 with 841 self-admitted LGBT adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.
LGBT poll: Time to speak up
For gay businessmen Brendan Mahoney and Tonya Moya, as well as genderqueer Jenni Vega, they find their worst fears at the start of the Trump presidency has been realized five months later.
Speaking with KJZZ radio, Vega said: “Everything that we all thought would happen happened.”
“I’m living in a place where I’m not wanted,” Vega added.
“You know, are they gonna confuse me for a Mexican national and put me in some room. And what am I going to say? What am I gonna do?,” Moya said, who is a natural-born American citizen
“People are emboldened to tell you what they think and what they feel. Because it’s starting at the top,” Moya added, referring to Trump.
“Usually, there’s a time to compromise with people, but in this case, there is no compromise. Absolutely none. We only can resist,” Mahoney said.
He added, “The only solution now is to be unafraid. Don’t let them make us afraid. Then they win. “Be unafraid. Be who you are. Stand up. Speak out. Shout. Loud.” .