The Rapidly Growing Acceptance Of The LGBT Community

American attitudes toward the LGBT community is changing rapidly. While they once had to stay "in the closet" just to survive, they are now being accepted by most Americans. We already know from the Gallup Poll that 55% of Americans think same-sex couples should have the same marriage rights as opposite-sex couples -- and if you replace the word "marriage" with "civil unions" the percentage goes much higher (even in the so-called red states). We also know that a huge majority of Americans don't find job discrimination because of sexual preference is right (also true in the red states).

But this acceptance of the LGBT community goes further than just the issues of same-sex marriage and job discrimination. As you can see from the chart above, nearly two out of three Americans (63%) now believe that same-sex couples should have the legal right to adopt children. Just a couple of decades ago, only 29% of Americans believed this while 63% said no. That has now flipped (and only 35% currently say no). And this has happened in a remarkably short period of time -- with those saying yes going from 46% in 2007 to 63% in 2014 (a 17 point jump in just the last seven years).

Homophobia has quickly become an unacceptable form of bigotry for most Americans -- even when it is wrapped in religion.

The chart above was made from surveys taken by the Gallup Poll -- the most recent being done between May 8th and 22nd of a random national sample of 1,028 adults (with a margin of error of about 4 points).