Most Americans support LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) nondiscrimination laws and oppose religious exemptions to them, according to a recent Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) survey.
The report comes as numerous bills before state legislatures would allow people to refuse service or accommodations to LGBT people based on religious beliefs.
Key findings include:
- 71 percent of Americans — including majorities in all 50 states — support laws that would protect LGBT people from discrimination in jobs, housing and public accommodations.
- 59 percent of Americans oppose allowing small-business owners in their state to refuse service to LGBT people if doing so conflicts with their religious beliefs.
- 53 percent of Americans support same-sex “marriage,” compared with 37 percent (including most evangelical Protestants and Mormons) who oppose it.
“There is notably strong opposition to religiously-based refusals to serve gay and lesbian people among groups who have historically experienced discrimination,” said PRRI research director Dan Cox, noting that African-Americans are most strongly opposed (67 percent).
PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones said in a press release that even among groups that oppose same-sex “marriage,” support for protection from discrimination crosses all “partisan, religious, geographic and demographic lines.” This includes 57 percent of white evangelical Protestants, 72 percent of Mormons and 65 percent of African-Americans.
Religious exemptions
But while the majority of white evangelical Protestants and Mormons support LGBT nondiscrimination in jobs, housing and public accommodations, they also support religious exemptions to such laws.
They are the only two major religious groups that favor allowing small business owners to deny service to gay or lesbian people if doing so violates their religious beliefs. The survey found 56 percent of white evangelical Protestants and 58 percent of Mormons feel this way.
Support for anti-discrimination laws also breaks down by party lines over religious exemptions. The survey found that 74 percent of Democrats but only 40 percent of Republicans oppose allowing small business owners to refuse to provide products or services to gay or lesbian people if doing so violates their religious beliefs.
Across the South residents are divided on same-sex “marriage” (46 percent favor, 45 percent oppose) but two thirds (66 percent) favor LBGT nondiscrimination laws.
Alabama is one of the least supportive of LGBT nondiscrimination laws as it is tied for the bottom spot with Arkansas at 57 percent. Overall 60 percent of residents oppose same-sex “marriage” in the state.
(Religion News Service, TAB)
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