Big rise in US support for gay marriage in past decade

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

The survey reported a sizable increase in support for gay marriage among many Americans who regularly attend houses of worship, sometimes viewed as being less receptive to gay rights issues

VICTORY. US university students Mollie Wagoner (2-R) and Sharon Burk (R), a same-sex couple that have been dating for a year, celebrate with supporters of gay and lesbian rights outside the Supreme Court after the ruling on California's Proposition 8, in Washington DC, USA, 26 June 2013. Photo by EPA/Michael Reynolds

WASHINGTON DC, USA – Support for gay marriage has seen dramatic gains in the United States over the past decade and now has the support of a majority of Americans, a study released Wednesday, February 26, showed.

The survey by the non-partisan Public Religion Research Institute found that 53% of Americans said they are in favor of gay marriage.

That number reflects a 21-point jump compared to 2003, when 32% of people said they supported same-sex marriage.

The survey reported a sizable increase in support for gay marriage among many Americans who regularly attend houses of worship, sometimes viewed as being less receptive to gay rights issues.

The poll found majority support for gay marriage among practicing Jewish Americans (83%), white mainline Protestants, (62%); White Catholics (58%) and Hispanic Catholics, (56%).

Hispanic Protestants were split almost down the middle, with 46% saying they were in favor of same-sex marriage and 49% opposed.

Much less support was found among black Protestants (35%) and white evangelical Protestants (27%).

The pollsters said the big increase in support for gay marriage in recent years can be explained in large part by increasing numbers of straight people who say they have a close friend or relative who is gay or lesbian.

The poll found that to be particularly true for Americans in their 20s and early 30s – often referred to as Millenials – who sometimes go so far as to reject a childhood religion they deem to be homophobic.

Sixty-nine percent of Millenials favor gay marriage, the poll found.

“This new research provides further evidence that negative teachings on this issue have hurt churches’ ability to attract and retain young people,” said the institute’s CEO Robert Jones.

“Nearly one-third of Millennials who left their childhood religion say unfavorable church teachings about or treatment of gay and lesbian people played a significant role in their decision to head for the exit,” Jones said.

The survey queried 4,500 respondents between November 12 and December 18, and had a sampling error of plus or minus 1.7 points. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!