Analysis of the Harvard Public Opinion Project’s recently released statistics reveals that millennials’ opinions on issues such as racial diversity and sexual orientation appear to be in line with the general trend toward acceptance in today’s society.
Of those ages 25 to 29, 37 percent agreed and 20 percent disagreed that racial diversity in the student body improves the quality of college education. This acceptance is reflected in millennials’ personal lives as well: when asked how many of their closest friends were of a different race, of those ages 18 to 24, only 20 percent said none, compared to 80 percent who had at least “some” friends of different races.
In addition, differences in sexual orientation are becoming perceived as less of a barrier to friendships. Of those ages 18 to 24, 55 percent said that at least some of their closest friends are of a different sexual orientation whereas 45 percent said none of them were. It appears that females are more accepting than males: 51 percent of males said none of their closest friends were of a different sexual orientation, as opposed to 41 percent of females. Also, of those ages 18 to 24, 60 percent agreed that a friend’s sexual orientation was not important compared to 15 percent who thought that it was.
Analysis of this data shows that more than fifty years after the Civil Rights movement, racial diversity is becoming a norm for millennials, a fact that is reflected in their acceptance of diversity in schools as well as in their choices of friends. Huge strides have been made in the past few years for gay rights, including the Supreme Court’s striking down of DOMA last summer. This progress seems to be correlated with millennials who are increasingly becoming more accepting of their gay friends and peers.