Many Trans Americans Are Living in Fear. But LGBTQ Advocates See a Reprieve in Statehouses.

Orion Rummler at The 19th News reports that after the recent onslaught of anti-LGBTQ laws and rhetoric, several advocacy groups believe the tide may be turning. In 2022, Florida passed more anti-LGBTQ laws than in the previous seven years combined; West Virginia also experienced a flurry of anti-LGBTQ legislation. In the most recent session, however, both state legislatures only passed a single such bill. Georgia Republicans were equally unsuccessful, despite attempts to include anti-trans measures in unrelated legislation, which was seen as a sign that legislators knew they didn’t have sufficient public support. According to PRRI, 59% of Republicans support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.

Research Shows Some Latinos Say Immigrants Hurt Their Social Status

At Axios, Russell Contreras reports that a new study published in PublicOpinion Quarterly finds some Latinos blame immigrants for their “status devaluation” in the American racial hierarchy. Washington College political science professor and PRRI Public Fellow Flavio Rogerio Hickel Jr., Ph.D., one of the study’s authors, explained, “This is primarily motivated by a resentment […] because they’re lumped in with immigrant Latinos who are not highly valued in American society.” In an earlier PRRI Spotlight, Hickel wrote that immigration is no longer the critical issue that it once was for the Latinx electorate, with only 46% of Latinx Americans saying that immigration is a critical issue in 2023 compared with 55% in 2015.

White House Launches Emergency Response Protocol for Mass Shootings

Myah Ward at POLITICO reports that an emergency response team led by the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention will unveil a new protocol for responding to mass shootings and rising gun violence. This comes amid a slew of milestones: Saturday is the 25th anniversary of the Columbine shooting, followed by the two-year anniversary of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. President Biden also assigned the response team to enforce the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, resulting in the most sweeping expansion of firearms background checks in decades. PRRI’s 2023 American Values Survey finds Democrats are more than twice as likely as Republicans to say that access to guns and gun safety is a critical election issue (66% vs. 25%, respectively).

Who Says Their Freedoms Are Becoming More Restricted?

A new PRRI Spotlight Analysis shows that Americans are divided in their perceptions of how their freedoms have shifted in recent years. Except for bodily autonomy (which Democrats are more likely to say is being restricted), Republicans and older generations are more likely to feel their freedoms have become more restricted than Democrats and younger generations. For instance, around half of Americans (49%) feel their freedom to openly speak their mind about certain people or groups has become more restricted in recent years, including 65% of Republicans, 52% of independents, and 34% of Democrats.