July 3, 2013 - In March,
TIME
magazine featured a cover story with the headline, “Gay Marriage
Already Won.” But this was a full three months before the Supreme
Court’s official rulings in favor of same-sex marriage.
It was only last week when the Supreme Court struck down sections of
the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), declaring key components
unconstitutional, and essentially lifting California’s Proposition 8 ban
on same-sex marriage by leaving it without legal defense.
Yet
TIME’s March cover wasn’t a chronological error; rather,
it was picking up clear cultural signals: the Supreme Court may have
prolonged their decision on same-sex marriage, but in the court of
public opinion there was a sense the choice had already been made.
Social shifts as monumental as this one don’t happen overnight—they
grow over time, slowly building in momentum. So if America is changing
its mind on same-sex marriage, what is underneath this shifting
perspective? Who, exactly, are the citizens changing their views? How
different are their views today than 10 years ago? And what is happening
with regard to Christians and their perspectives on same-sex issues?
Barna Group has tracked public opinion of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and queer) community since 2003 to provide insight
into these very questions. On June 27-30, the newest Barna poll
conducted after the Supreme Court’s decision, demonstrates the
population segments who are trending toward support of LGBTQ rights. The
Supreme Court’s rulings last week are merely a legal expression of a
profound social shift that has already taken place, and is backed by
growing, but still hesitant moral acceptance of same-sex sexual
relationships.
America’s Change of Mind on LGBTQ RightsIn the
wake of the Supreme Court rulings, public response was overwhelmingly
supportive—photos of embracing same-sex couples filled the news, Twitter
was flooded with celebratory reactions, and Google even changed its
search bar to rainbow hues for anyone who typed in “gay” as a keyword.
Of course, others received the rulings with concern, viewing these legal
shifts as a building threat to their definition of marriage as one man
and one woman.
Overall, the Barna data shows 53% of American adults favor changing
laws to accommodate more freedoms for the LGBTQ community. This opinion
has become a majority view since 10 years ago, when 42% of adults took
such a stance.
In 2003, however, only atheists and agnostics among key religious
segments were in firm support of increasing LGBTQ rights. Currently, in
addition to religious skeptics, practicing Catholics and those who have
faiths other than Christianity are also more likely than not to favor
increasing LGBTQ rights. Only practicing Protestants remain opposed to
changing laws that enable more freedoms for the LGBTQ community.
How America Understands the Goals of the LGBTQ CommunityWhen
a social shift of this significance occurs, one of the biggest
questions is why. And while this answer has room for additional
discovery, perhaps one factor may be the growing understanding of the
LGBTQ community in the past 10 years. A decade ago, two-fifths of
Americans were unable to identify any particular goals of the LGBTQ
community. Today, that percentage has dropped to just one-quarter of
Americans. This suggests Americans have become significantly more aware
of the kinds of social changes the LGBTQ community is aiming for.
In the recent Barna poll, Americans were more likely than in 2003 to
identify goals such as achieving equal benefits as heterosexuals
(increasing from 10% in 2003 to 32%), equal employment opportunities
(from 9% to 15%), and same-sex marriage (from 23% to 33%). Other goals
that also increased in perceived awareness include allowing gay and
lesbian couples to adopt and provide foster care (from 5% in 2003 to
17%) and protection from discrimination (from 5% to 11%).
How Americans Define MarriageAmericans’ change
of perspective on the LGBTQ community doesn’t simply affect the LGBTQ
community—it also brings changes to the definition of marriage Americans
embrace, though the data suggests this change has been less substantial
in the last year compared with attitudes about gay and lesbian rights.
In 2003, a slim majority of Americans (52%) believed marriage is
defined as the union between one man and one woman. Yet in 2013, the
majority opinion effectively flipped. Today, 48% of all Americans
believe marriage is between one man and one woman, signaling a historic
shift as the nation’s new minority opinion.
Most practicing Protestants (70%) are still committed to this
traditional perspective, dropping just five percentage points in the
past 10 years (from 75%). Practicing Catholics have seen a steep
decline, from 64% to 50% today. Other faith groups have declined five
points, but started much lower than Christian segments (from 45% to
40%). Atheists and agnostics have declined from 26% to 18% in support of
a conventional view of marriage.
Other social views related to the LGBTQ community have also undergone
change in the past 10 years. The research shows Americans’ willingness
to support adoption for same-sex couples has increased from 46% to 57%
since 2003. Practicing Catholics are now nearly twice as likely as
practicing Protestants to embrace this perspective (60% versus 36%).
A Changing Moral Compass on RelationshipsDespite
the significant social acceptance the LGBTQ community has achieved in
recent years, the Barna study reveals the gap between what Americans are
willing to allow legally and what they believe is morally acceptable.
Overall, 37% of Americans say same-sex relationships are morally
appropriate. This represents an increase from 30% of Americans who
embraced this view a decade ago.
Yet even with a surge of legal changes for the LGBTQ community,
nearly six out of 10 Americans today do not view same-sex relationships
as moral. While most measures of support for the LGBTQ community have
reached majority status, a minority of Americans is willing to condone
such relationships from an ethical standpoint.
Practicing Catholics are some of the most likely to have changed
views on this question. Their support for the moral acceptability of
same-sex relationships has nearly doubled in the past decade. Atheists
and agnostics and those who embrace a faith other than Christianity have
grown, too, in supporting the moral legitimacy of same-sex
relationships. For their part, practicing Protestants have moved so
little (from 12% to 15%) that it is within the range of sampling error.
Where Evangelicals FitBarna Group defines a
specific group of Christians as evangelicals based upon their statements
to various religious and theological questions, such as belief in the
authority of the Bible, their rejection of salvation through good works,
and their focus on talking about their faith in Jesus with others.
(This segment is not defined by self-labeling or denomination;
additional details are shown below.) By this measure, evangelicals
represent about 8% of the U.S. public. Most evangelicals are practicing
Protestants, who altogether represent about one-quarter of Americans.
Among the Barna-defined evangelical segment, most of their attitudes
on LGBTQ issues have not changed much since 2003—in fact, they are the
one group that has become more resistant toward LGBTQ concerns on
several fronts. This includes:
- Evangelicals remain very unlikely to favor changing laws to support LGBTQ lifestyles (declining from 12% in 2003 to 5%).
- They continue to be extremely supportive of defining marriage as one man and one woman (inching up from 90% to 93%).
- And they roundly reject the moral acceptability of same-sex marriage (up from 95% to 98%).
The only area in which evangelicals have become more willing to
support LGBTQ causes in the last decade has been their slight increase
in favoring adoption by same-sex couples (from 12% to 18%).
The Generational DivideA striking difference
emerged in this survey both in 2003 and 2013: Both among the national
average and the Christian population, views on same-sex relationships
vary significantly by age. Across the board, twenty- and
thirty-something Americans are more likely than Americans 40 and over to
support legal changes favoring the LGBTQ community (65% compared to
46%), to view same-sex relationships as morally acceptable (47% compared
to 30%), and disagree that marriage is defined as one man and one woman
(61% compared to 46%).
Within the Christian community, this generational trend remains the
same, though the gap is smaller. Younger practicing Christians are
statistically more supportive of the LGBTQ movement than their parents’
generation. Nearly half of of practicing Protestants under 40 today
support changing laws to enable more freedoms for the LGBTQ community,
while just one-third of their parents’ and grandparents’ generation feel
the same.
The ways younger practicing Christians understand the goals of the
LGBTQ community also differ significantly than their predecessors’
perceptions. Twenty- and thirty-something practicing Christians today
are twice as likely as practicing Christians over 40 to identify
protection from violence and discrimination (11% compared to 6%) and
sexual freedom (13% compared to 6%) as goals of the LGBTQ community.
Younger Christians (19%) are also nearly three times as likely as older
Christians (7%) to understand adoption as a desire within the LGBTQ
community.
What the Research MeansDavid Kinnaman, the
president of Barna Group, directed the research study. He comments,
“Clearly, social and legal acceptance of the LGBTQ community has passed
the tipping point in the U.S. At the same time, millions of Americans
continue to hold very divergent, often highly contentious viewpoints on
the subject of LGBTQ rights and morality. Younger Americans are driving
much of this social change, but a big part of the story of the last
decade has been the perception change that has occurred among those age
40-plus.
“Among Christians, the Barna study shows that Catholics have far
outpaced Protestants in terms of embracing LGBTQ points of advocacy, yet
many active Protestants have also shifted their views in recent years.
And while non-evangelical Protestants have changed somewhat on these
matters, evangelicals have essentially maintained their perception
through the past decade. Some will say this demonstrates evangelicals’
principled behavior; others will claim this proves their repressive
social views. Either way, the data shows that evangelicals remain
countercultural against a rising tide of public opinion. If the sands
have shifted under evangelicals’ feet in the last 10 years, we at Barna
predict it will seem the ground has completely opened beneath them
during the next 10. In part, that’s because the very belief that
same-sex relationships are morally wrong is deemed by many to be
discriminatory and bigoted.
Kinnaman is the co-author of the book
unChristian
(2007), which revealed the significant negative perceptions that
Christians were anti-homosexual. In light of this as well as the
implications of the current research, Kinnaman concludes, “In
unChristian,
the anti-homosexual perception was the ‘big’ one; the perception that
overshadowed all else. This new study confirms how the Christian
community responds to the LGBTQ community is, in many ways, the defining
social and moral issue of the day. Many churches and Christian leaders
are going to rise or fall based on how they address it.
“Facing these matters must include, but not be limited to, questions
of marriage, the role of the state in sanctioning marriage, a theology
of the body, the ethics of sexuality and friendship, sin and brokenness,
human flourishing, and so on. The Christian response to these issues
has to be rooted in a deeply relational ethic—that sexuality is a
relational and interconnected aspect of our humanity. That relationships
matter, including those between people who disagree. Our research on
younger Christians shows many leave the church over questions on these
complex issues. And unless they are given a robust and compelling vision
for why they need to hold to those views—and how to embrace them in a
humble-yet-livable way—we expect even more disaffection between young
adults and the Church in the years come.”
Twitter: @davidkinnaman | @barnagroup
Facebook: Barna Group
About the ResearchThis report is based on two
OmniPollSM studies conducted by telephone with adults ages 18 or older
in the continental United States. The 2013 study included 1,005
interviews with landlines and cellphone users from June 25 to June 30,
2013. The second study included telephone interviews with 1,029 landline
users from September 15 to September 24, 2003. The maximum margin of
sampling error for each of the studies is estimated to be within plus or
minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Based upon U.S. Census data sources, regional and ethnic quotas were
designed to ensure that the final group of adults interviewed reflected
the distribution of adults nationwide. Statistical weighting was used to
calibrate the sample to known population percentages in relation to
demographic variables.
"Evangelicals" are respondents who say they have made a personal
commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today
and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to
Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus
Christ as their savior. They also meet seven other conditions. Those
include saying their faith is very important in their life today;
believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious
beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that Satan exists;
believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not
works; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth;
asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; and
describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who
created the universe and still rules it today. Being classified as an
evangelical is not dependent upon church attendance or the
denominational affiliation of the church attended. Respondents were not
asked to describe themselves as "evangelical."
"Practicing Christians" include self-identified Christians/Catholics
who have attended a church service at least once in the last month and
who agree strongly with the statement “your religious faith is very
important in your life today.”
About Barna GroupBarna Group (which includes
its research division, the Barna Research Group) is a private,
non-partisan, for-profit organization under the umbrella of the Issachar
Companies. Located in Ventura, California, Barna Group has been
conducting and analyzing primary research to understand cultural trends
related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors since 1984.
If you would like to receive free e-mail notification of the release
of each update on the latest research findings from Barna Group, you may
subscribe to this free service at the Barna website (www.barna.org).
Additional research-based resources are also available through this
website.
© Barna Group, 2013.
