After decades of rising support, same-sex marriage acceptance may be stalling, Gallup poll shows
Acceptance of same-sex marriage and relationships in the United States has stabilized after more than two decades of steadily rising support, with a continuing decline among Republicans, according to a new Gallup poll.
About 65% of U.S. adults believe same-sex marriage should be legal; This rate is slightly lower than 71% in 2022 and 2023.
Many of the changes stem from declining acceptance among Republicans. Inside new surveyIn the May poll, only 37% of Republicans said same-sex marriage should be legal, while 35% said gay and lesbian relationships were “morally acceptable.”
In the findings released Wednesday, the views of Democrats and independents are largely stable; Most in both groups say same-sex marriage should be legal and that gay or lesbian relationships are moral.
The widening partisan divide is also reflected in policies regarding LGBTQ+ issues across the US, particularly transgender people, and growing pressure in some states to ban same-sex marriage.
Recent changes were subtle and biased
The decline in support for gay marriage, though slight, is still notable because of how dramatically Americans’ views on the issue have changed over the past few decades.
In 1996, only 27% of U.S. adults supported legal same-sex marriage, according to trend data from Gallup. Since then, support for same-sex marriage has increased steadily until a few years ago; At the time, that support peaked with nearly 7 in 10 U.S. adults saying same-sex marriage should be legal.
Views on the morality of homosexual relationships followed the same pattern. In 2001, nearly 4 in 10 U.S. adults said homosexual relationships were morally acceptable. This rate increased by almost 30 percent over the next two decades.
Over the past few years, Gallup data has shown signs of a shift in the other direction. In addition to the slight decline in same-sex marriage, the new survey found that 62 percent of U.S. adults view gay and lesbian relationships as morally acceptable; this rate was 71 percent in 2022.
Same-sex marriage continues to gain nationwide recognition
Gay marriage happened nationally recognized Since the 2015 Supreme Court decision. That case capped a 12-year period during which court decisions and state laws in most states recognized it.
There were more than 800,000 married same-sex couples as of last year, according to data compiled by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
But the pushbacks never stopped. The call to overturn the 2015 law reached the Supreme Court last year, citing remarks by Justice Clarence Thomas who called for that law to be reversed. The court rejected the objection without comment.
last year, Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly called for a nationwide recognition of marriage and a reversal of the decision that led to the ban.
Lawmakers in at least 11 states have introduced legislation calling for a ban on same-sex marriage in their current or most recent sessions, according to an analysis of bills compiled by The Associated Press. legislation tracking service Plural. Most failed to gain momentum. However, the Tennessee Legislature passed a measure allowing private citizens and organizations not to recognize unions; The Idaho Legislature passed a resolution urging the Supreme Court to reverse the 2015 decision.
A similar number of states have recently introduced measures aimed at protecting same-sex marriage.
Acceptance of transgender people has also decreased
In a sign that views on LGBTQ+ issues may be shifting more broadly, a new Gallup poll finds that 4 in 10 Americans view gender reassignment as morally acceptable; this rate was almost half in 2021.
The rights of transgender individuals have been one of the political issues that have occupied the agenda in the last decade.
Most Republican-controlled states have passed laws repealing the ban in the last five years. gender-affirming medical treatments For transgender minors, restrict which school bathrooms transgender people can use and block transgender girls and women in some countries sports competitions.
Trump has signed executive orders aimed at some of the same policies at the federal level.
This week, one of those policies took a hit with a court ruling. Army illegally bans transgender troops.
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The Gallup poll, conducted May 1-17, was based on phone interviews with a random sample of 1,001 U.S. adults. Overall, the margin of sampling error for adults is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
