Support for Same-Sex Marriage Reaches All Time High

A new study by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution found that support for same-sex marriage among Americans is at an all time high and that nearly every major religious demographic in the country supports it.

Overall, 70 percent of Americans surveyed said they support the legal right for people to marry their same-sex partners, with 80 percent of Democrats supporting it, 76 percent of Independents, and 50 percent of Republicans agreeing.

Support for same-sex marriage has been steadily rising over the past decade. The new survey results are up from 63 percent that a Gallup poll found last year and up from 67 percent before this summer, which was then a record. In 1996, Gallup found that only 26 percent of Americans supported same-sex marriage, but ever since 2011, the majority of Americans have supported it.

The PRRI survey broke down its results by religion and ethnicity, finding that 90 percent of "religiously unaffiliated" Americans support same-sex marriage, as do 79 percent of white mainline Protestants. Among Hispanic Catholics, support sits at 78 percent and Hispanic protestants support marriage at 68 percent. 72 percent of non-Christian religious groups also support it. Additionally, 57 percent of Black Protestants and 56 percent of other Christian religions say they support same-sex marriage.

The only demographic surveyed where a majority doesn't support gay marriage is white Evangelical Protestants, with 63 percent still opposing marriage quality. As that point of view continues to lose support, hopefully Evangelical churches can change and grow with the times.

The survey also found that two thirds of white Catholics disagree say that they do support same-sex marriage. This comes as Pope Francis recently called for civil union laws for those couples.

Additionally, the survey found that more than 80 percent of Americans support laws that would offer protection for LGBTQ+ people protection from discrimination, something that Trump and Republicans have been fighting hard against.

*Read about the weddings of Mrs. and Mrs. Keimy and Pamela Milanes and Mr. and Mr. John and Lloyd Hall-MacDonald, featured above, in our weekly Out Weddings column.

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