Long term trend toward expanded acceptance stalled in recent years. 
PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans express a spectrum of views on gay rights, ranging from near universal support for gay rights in the workplace to majority opposition of legalizing gay marriage. Americans aren't so much ambiguous in their attitudes on gay rights as they are culturally fractured.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Over the last decade, gay-rights activists have pushed programs to support gay and lesbian students in public schools. Their success is striking:

• More than 3,000 Gay-Straight Alliance clubs meet across the country.
• Nearly half a million students take a vow of silence one day each spring in an annual event to support gay rights. California may soon require textbooks to feature the contributions of gays and lesbians throughout history.
  

• The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network says based on the results of a new poll, about 5 percent of American high school students "identify as gay or lesbian"
  • 16 percent said they have a homosexual relative
  • 72 percent said they know someone who is homosexual.
• 75. 4% of students heard derogatory remarks such as "faggot" or "dyke" frequently or often at school, and nearly nine out of ten (89.2%) reported hearing "that's so gay" or "you're so gay" - meaning stupid or worthless- frequently or often.
• Over a third (37.8%) of students experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter (26.1%) on the basis of their gender expression.