A new survey revealed that American support for the LGBTQ+ community has increased.
In the Public Religion Research Institution (PRRI) study, nearly 79% of US citizens favoured laws that protected the LGBTQ+ community from discrimination in jobs, housing and public accommodations.
Over the last few years, that percentage has fluctuated between 69% and 76%.
In terms of the members of the Republican Party, support for LGBTQ+ protections rose from 61% to 65% over the course of six years.
Since 2015, LGBTQ+ acceptance within religiously affiliated groups has also increased.
Nine in ten Catholics of colour (89%), Buddhists (87%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (87%) support the queer community.
“In addition, eight in ten or more Jewish Americans (85%), Hindus (85%), Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (84%), Hispanic Catholics (83%), white mainline Protestants (82%), white Catholics (80%), and members of other religions (80%) support nondiscrimination laws to protect LGBTQ people,” the report said.
Even though support has risen within certain groups, there were no significant increases from a geographic standpoint.
However, support has increased by 11% in states like Maryland, Hawaii, Washington, and Nevada – as well as the District of Columbia.
The study also found that nearly 66% of Americans opposed religiously-based refusal of service towards queer individuals compared to 33% of those who support it.
In a statement, PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones gave further insight into the impactful research.
“This massive 50-state study brings into sharp focus the contradiction between increasing support for LGBTQ rights, including rights for transgender Americans and the proliferation of laws seeking to restrict or abolish those rights over the last year,” he said
“Support for nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans has never been higher and garners the support of all political parties and major religious groups.”
The eye-opening survey comes at a time when laws attacking the LGBTQ+ community are at an all-time high.
According to a report from NBC News, lawmakers across the 50 states have proposed 238 discriminatory bills – with half of them explicitly targeting the transgender community.
Chase Strangio, Deputy Director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, described the harmful laws as a “terrifying intrusion.”
“It’s important for people to pause and think about what is happening – especially in the health care context – because what we’re seeing is that the state should have the authority to declare a population so undesirable that their medical care that they need to survive becomes a crime,” he told NBC News.
Latest
