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.
