[lbo-talk] America gets more comfy with the queers

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Thu May 15 08:36:12 PDT 2003


Six out of 10 Americans Say Homosexual Relations Should Be Recognized as Legal But Americans are evenly divided on issue of legal civil unions between homosexuals giving them the legal rights of married couples

by Frank Newport GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Attitudes toward homosexuality and homosexual relations continue to be one of the more complex areas of public opinion that Gallup measures. The issue is not only one of significant concern because of its traditional moral and religious overtones, but in recent years it has been at the center of state and federal legislative battles, highly publicized court challenges, and political debate.

Gallup's recent Values and Beliefs survey shows that a majority of Americans accept the idea that homosexual relations between consenting adults should be legal and that homosexuality is an acceptable way of life. The acceptance of homosexuality as legal is now at the 60% level, up from 52% last year and 43% when Gallup first began asking about it in 1977. The recent survey also finds that almost 9 out of 10 Americans agree that homosexuals should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities, although opinions on allowing homosexual couples to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples, are evenly divided.

A plurality of Americans believe that homosexuality is something that is a result of one's upbringing or environment, rather than being a genetic trait with which a person is born, although opinion on this has been somewhat inconsistent over time.

[rest at <http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr030515.asp>]



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