Christian Post – A major gay rights organization is pushing for 20 percent of all television characters to be LGBT by the year 2025. According to a report called “Where We Are on TV”, which was released Thursday from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the presence of characters who identify as LGBT in television programming is key to changing hearts and minds in culture.

The report cites an online survey of 2,037 adults indicating that one-fifth of Americans ages 18-34 and that 12 percent of all adults identify as LGBT or other non-heterosexual, non-biological gender categories. GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis notes in the report that “less than one-quarter of Americans have a close friend or family member who is transgender,” meaning that many Americans “learn about trans people from what they see on television, movies, and news.”

The online survey used in the GLAAD media report is more reflective of what many perceive about percentages of LGBT-identified persons rather than the actual figures from reputable polling organizations. In June, Gallup published results of a survey in which respondents were asked to give their best guess as to how many Americans they think are gay or lesbian. The study found that a strong majority of Americans continue to overestimate the percentages by a significant margin. READ MORE