Public approval of gay marriage on the rise

  • Staff report
  • Posted: Thursday, February 9, 2012 12:01 a.m.
    UPDATED: Sunday, March 18, 2012 4:50 p.m.
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The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a 2008 California referendum banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, violating the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. The decision is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The latest polling on the issue of same-sex marriage by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press (conducted in October 2011) finds that the public divides almost evenly: 46 percent favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, while 44 percent are opposed. The public has gradually become more supportive of granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages over the past 15 years, with support increasing more steeply in recent years.

Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants express the greatest opposition to same-sex marriage, with 74 percent saying they oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally. A large majority of black Protestants also oppose same-sex marriage (62 percent). The views of these groups have not changed since 2010. Compared with evangelicals and black Protestants, white mainline Protestants are more supportive of same-sex marriage, with 54 percent saying they favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to get married.

Among Catholics as a whole, supporters of same-sex marriage now outnumber opponents (52 percent compared to 37 percent). In 2010, Catholics were more evenly divided on the issue, with 46 percent favoring same-sex marriage and 42 percent expressing opposition. A majority of white Catholics (57 percent) now express support for same-sex marriage, while Hispanic Catholics continue to be closely divided (42 percent favor same-sex marriage, 42 percent are opposed).

Compared with other groups, the religiously unaffiliated express the highest levels of support for same sex-marriage. More than 7 out of 10 of the religiously unaffiliated say they favor making same-sex marriage legal (72 percent), compared with 20 percent who oppose same-sex marriage.