Americans’ support for LGBTQ+ rights has slid downward after peaking in the early 2020s, according to a new Gallup poll.
Support for marriage equality has been steadily declining since it reached an all-time high of 71 percent in 2022. Now, 65 percent of Americans believe same-sex marriages should be valid. Broader support for LGBTQ+ people also continues to dip: 62 percent of Americans believe that gay or lesbian relationships are morally acceptable, compared with 71 percent in 2022.
What’s changed? In the past five years, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has become a staple of both state and federal politics, as conservatives accuse queer and trans people of influencing children’s identities in schools, sports and hospitals. Politicians including President Donald Trump have spent millions on campaign ads attacking transgender people, while conservative groups and super PACs push out their own anti-LGBTQ+ ads. Nearly 50 organizations have launched a new campaign lobbying to end marriage equality, despite the Supreme Court showing little to no interest in revisiting its landmark 2015 ruling.
The dip in support for LGBTQ+ rights comes largely from Republicans. In 2021 and 2022, Gallup found that 55 percent of Republicans supported same-sex marriage, but now only 37 percent do. In 2022, over half of Republicans found gay or lesbian relationships to be morally acceptable; now 35 percent feel that way.
Other markers of LGBTQ+ acceptance are also waning: A recent study from the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA Law, found that HIV stigma has increased in recent years despite significant progress in treatment and prevention. More adults feel fear and blame toward people living with HIV than they did only a few years ago, and a higher share of adults have at least one stigmatizing belief about people with HIV. Conservatives expressed the most stigma.
According to Gallup, Republicans’ views of same-sex couples are similar to what they were between 2005 and 2014 — essentially turning back the clock on LGBTQ+ acceptance.
In a statement, the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said that backlash against the LGBTQ+ community has had only limited success.
“Marriage equality is still backed by two-thirds of the American public, our federal protections are codified through the Respect for Marriage Act, and more than 800,000 same-sex couples are in loving marriages all across this country. This is exactly why Pride, our visibility, and our stories matter now more than ever. We will not let extremists define who we are or who we love,” said Jarred Keller, senior press secretary at the Human Rights Campaign.
These cultural shifts are also affecting how Pride month is recognized. This year, Republican governors across several states — including Indiana, Tennessee and Alabama — have rebranded June as a month to celebrate heterosexual marriage and families, the Associated Press reports. But those proclamations aren’t stopping local parties: In Birmingham, Nashville, and Indianapolis, Pride is already in full swing.
