In honor of LGBT Pride Month,
American Apparel debuted its first-ever transgender model, former "America's Next Top Model" contestant Isis King. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation praised the clothing company for its decision to include King, and hopes that it will help promote the phrase "Gay is OK." We wanted to know if the public thinks the campaign is a great idea, or just a gimmick.
Naturally, this is a controversial issue. We'll leave politics alone in the demographics this time, because it's clearly a determining factor, but in the end most people feel American Apparel's decision to use a transgender model was a good thing. Some respondents were uncomfortable with it, but others saw it as a step forward. One commenter wrote, "People need to not care what someone else's preference is, and worry about something worth while."
The Straight Stats
Homosexual voters were all for the use of a transgender model, as would be expected, but how did straight voters respond? Filtering out the LGBT vote, we found that straight voters were less than thrilled about the ads. It was still close, but 53% of the straight vote suggested American Apparel's use of King was just a gimmick.
Females Are Fine With It
Gender was almost as divisive as sexuality. While men were largely unimpressed with the ad, female voters strongly supported it, with more than two-thirds of the vote in favor. In the past, our polls have shown that women are typically much more comfortable with homosexuality, while men sometimes tend to be grossed out by it.
Older Voters Are Against It
Usually, when there's a stark difference between younger and older voters, the shift occurs somewhere around 45. However, in this case, the age difference was a little bit young. The vast majority of people over 35 voted against the ad, while a large number of voters under 35 were impressed. The difference was enormous -- approximately 43%.
If you'd like to vote on this question, dig deeper into the demographics, or engage in existing discussion about the topic, visit our poll about Isis King. We'd love to hear from you!
Similarly, I don't expect straight people to understand or approve of me for being gay, they'll never understand how 2 men can love each other or two women... I just expect them to accept me as a fellow human being who deserves respect just the same.
I am simply against, any plastic surgery really.
If we use the argument that we should be as nature designed us, then people with mutations or disorders should just let it be too, people with bad eyesight shouldn't have it fixed because obviously nature intended for them to have bad eyesight.
Being transgendered is a disorder, which each individual can fix by their own means. Majority of trangendered individuals studied have shown to have the brain chemistry which resembles that of the opposite sex, proving that they indeed are actually "stuck in the wrong body".