[upchuck]

Answers to all your questions can be found here in the 1987 document "Overhauling Straight America." It has been a carefully thought out campaign. Brilliant, even. And it, unfortunately, has worked. Excerpt:

The first order of business is desensitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights. To desensitize the public is to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of with keen emotion. Ideally, we would have straights register differences in sexual preference the way they register different tastes for ice cream or sports games: she likes strawberry and I like vanilla; he follows baseball and I follow football. No big deal.

At least in the beginning, we are seeking public desensitization and nothing more. We do not need and cannot expect a full "appreciation" or "understanding" of homosexuality from the average American. You can forget about trying to persuade the masses that homosexuality is a good thing. But if only you can get them to think that it is just another thing, with a shrug of their shoulders, then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won. And to get to shoulder-shrug stage, gays as a class must cease to appear mysterious, alien, loathsome and contrary. A large-scale media campaign will be required in order to change the image of gays in America.

On the bright side is this: queers make up just 3.8% of the population. Source.

[Dilbert San Diego]

A large-scale media campaign will be required in order to change the image of gays in America.

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This is where TV shows like “Will and Grace” come in.

I’ve heard there is a homosexual cabal in Hollywood, who are involved with how homosexuals are portrayed in TV and movies. They are responsible for the fact that so many shows have homosexual characters, and that the homosexual is portrayed as a likeable character.

On the other hand, people such as clergy or fathers are objects of derision, and the butt of the jokes, in the entertainment media.

[OldGoatCPO]

CDC said 1.8% Gallup padding its numbers.

[justiceseeker93]

On the bright side is this: queers make up just 3.8% of the population.

That figure from the Gallup poll included all four groups - male homosexual ("gay"), female homosexual (lesbian), bisexual (which can be subdivided into female and male bisexuals), and transgender. Female bisexuals far outnumber true lesbians, as many so-called lesbians have had failed relationships with men. I would think that the inclusion of bisexuals in this mishmash greatly increases the reported percentage. The real percentage of true homosexuals in the general population is much lower than the 3.8% reported, and they are overwhelmingly males.

It's good to see some demonstrators out in front of the SCOTUS bullding to protest the decision.

All because the SCOTUS ruled doesn't mean that we can't change things around. As the Princeton professor quoted in the posted article said, the Dred Scott decision was abhorrent for American society as a whole, but it was completely turned on its head less than a decade later because enough decent people would not let it stand.