Thursday, May 21, 2015

The Changing View Of Same-Sex Relationships In The U.S.


I have posted several times recently about the changing views of Americans about same-sex marriages. Currently about six out of ten Americans support the legalization of those marriages. But there is even better news. The changing views of Americans are broader than just acceptance of same-sex marriages. It involves a more accepting view of the homosexual lifestyle in general.

As the chart above shows, more Americans now believe that homosexuality is something a person is born with, rather than something determined by environment (or a choice), and that is true of the general public and of Republicans and Democrats. For the general public, those saying a person is born with that orientation is 21 points higher than those who disagree with that -- for Democrats it is 38 points higher, and for Republicans it is 4 points higher.

This is much better than it was in 2001 -- when the general public was split evenly on this view, the Democrats showed 2 points favoring the "environment" view, and the Republicans showed a 15 point gap favoring those believing it was due to environment (or choice). Obviously, a lot of people have changed their opinion in the last 14 years.

While right-wingers and evangelicals are still hoping the Supreme Court decides in their favor on same-sex marriage bans, I think this change in attitude of most Americans shows this battle is over (regardless of what the court decides). It is awfully hard to deny equal rights to people who were born with a same-sex orientation. That is a far different matter than "choosing" an orientation.

The chart below shows that the public (and both Democrats and Republicans) have a majority now saying that same-sex orientation is morally acceptable -- another nail in the coffin of bigotry.

These charts were made from a new Gallup Poll -- done between May 6th and 10th of a random national sample of 1,024 adults, with a 4 point margin of error.


5 comments:

  1. I've never really cared very much about whether it was nature or nurture.

    I mean, sure, I can remember having crushes on girls before I even knew what a crush was- let alone what gay was- but who cares? How should that affect how the law treats me? It doesn't really matter in the end.

    Oh, I know, we ONLY "protect" inherent characteristics like race. We'd never protect as a right something that people could choose... like, say, being Methodist or Baptist or Lutheran.

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    1. I agree with you, Katie. It shouldn't matter whether it was "born with" or "taught/learned". I am an atheist (something I did choose), but that shouldn't make it OK to discriminate. But we both know that for some people, it does matter.

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  2. Anonymous Gay Man5/21/2015 12:24 PM

    As a gay man, I have no idea how this ridiculous "nurture" idea was even started. If you are straight, you cannot be "nurtured" into being gay. You can have sex with men, but that doesn't make you gay. Ridiculous. I had sex with a woman once in college. I was appalled. It had been spoken of so highly. I was curious. Never again! I'm now 70...happily married (two years ago) to my husband of 36 years. I love you Ted....please don't refer to our life as a "life style". It's insulting and no more a "life style" than yours. I know thousands of gay people and straight people. Not one has the same "life style". An odious term, created by KKKristian assholes. THEY have a life style, come to think of it. Ignorance, hatred, bigotry, and evil....24/7.

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    1. I hope you understand that my use of the term "life style" was not meant to be disrespectful.

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    2. And congratulations on your marriage. I wish you both many more years of happiness.

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