A record number of Americans are in favour of same-sex marriage, even as LGBTQ2S+ advocates worry the Supreme Court is preparing to roll back marriage equality.
More than seven in 10 U.S. respondents (71 percent) said they support the freedom to marry for all couples in a Gallup poll released on June 1. That is the highest such number since the non-partisan pollster began surveying Americans’ opinions on the issue in 1996. At the time, just 26 percent of respondents said same-sex partners should have marriage rights equal to other couples, but that figure ticked up to 70 percent last year, then a record high.
That trend has been fairly consistent: in the majority of surveys conducted since 2012, a greater percentage of Americans supported same-sex marriage than in the previous year’s poll. One notable example is between 2018 and 2019, when support for marriage equality took a four-point dip from 67 percent to 63 percent. (Advocates cited former President Donald Trump’s opposition to LGBTQ2S+ equality—including his promise to appoint justices to overturn same-sex marriage at the Supreme Court—as a factor in that historically unique slide.)
The newest Gallup data arrives as many LGBTQ2S+ Americans worry that the Supreme Court may be poised to backslide on protections for the community following the imminent repeal of Roe v. Wade. In a draft opinion leaked on May 2, Justice Samuel Alito signalled that the court is poised to overturn the landmark 1973 decision guaranteeing the right to abortion access in all 50 states. Many worry that marriage equality could be next on the chopping block.
“They will come for contraception,” said Americans United for Separation of Church and State president and CEO Rachel Laser in a statement following the leak. “They will come for marriage equality and LGBTQ rights. They will come for racial justice. They will not be satisfied until they have codified a white Christian nation.”
As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments regarding whether wedding businesses have the right to refuse service to same-sex couples later this year, further polling indicates that the American public may not embrace a retreat on LGBTQ2S+ rights. In a recent survey conducted by progressive news site The 19th, 70 percent of U.S. respondents opposed repealing Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark ruling legalizing marriage equality. That number is almost identical to Gallup’s most recent figure on overall support for the freedom to marry among Americans.
Polling also indicates that Americans are widely supportive of LGBTQ2S+ non-discrimination protections, even as federal legislation languishes in Congress. Around eight in 10 respondents (80 percent) in the U.S. backed laws banning discrmination against queer and trans people in areas like housing and healthcare in a 2021 survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), a nonprofit polling group.
What’s more, Gallup has noted that Americans broadly support LGBTQ2S+ rights across a wide variety of demographics. Last year, a majority of Republicans backed marriage equality for the first time in history, with 55 percent in favour of the freedom to marry.
While majorities of older adults have also shifted toward supporting same-sex couples in recent years, one demographic that has held out is weekly churchogers. In Gallup’s most recent report, just 40 percent of respondents who claimed that they attend church services each week expressed support for marriage equality.
According to Gallup, more than 1,007 Americans were polled for the latest report. Surveys were conducted between May 2 and May 22.
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