New research finds US Catholics view gay relationships as morally acceptable. Furthermore, Catholic support is higher, and is growing faster, than in the American population as a whole.
Two Gallup polls released in the last two days show once again that public acceptance of gay relationships and LGBT equality is continuing to grow - and US Catholics, unlike their bishops, are more supportive than others. The graph below shows a clear trend over the past 10 years: acceptance is increasing steadily, and has now crossed the 50% threshold, while opposition is eroding just as steadily.
As we have seen in previous polls, Catholic support for acceptance is stronger than that of Protestants. and also stronger than that of the country at large. What I have not seen before though, is that Catholic support is also growing faster.
Support for full marriage equality is not as strong , not growing as quickly, and not as pronounced among Catholics. Still, at 48% of US Catholics supporting gay marriage, this is stronger than the country as a whole (overall, 44% of Americans are in favour, up from 40% in 2009, and also in 2oo8.)
Notably, 81% of Americans who claim no religious affiliation favor legal same-sex marriage. That compares to 48% support among Catholics and 33% among Protestants (including those who identify as Christian but do not specify a particular Christian denomination).
I will enjoy digging further into the history of these annual Gallup reports, and if I turn up anything of further interest - you'll be the first to know.
Read more at Gallup, on LGBT acceptance, and on Gay Marriage.
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