The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) released an analysis earlier this month on the current views on LGBTQ rights in all 50 states. The report was part of PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas.
According to the report’s executive summary, the analysis measured “American attitudes on LGBTQ rights across all 50 states on three key policies: nondiscrimination protections, religiously based service refusals, and same-sex marriage.”
The report revealed a slight decline in nationwide support for nondiscrimination protections, from 80% in 2022 to 76% in 2023. There is a significant gap in party affiliation support for laws that would protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals from discrimination in jobs, public accommodations and housing. Democratic support for these protections sits at 89%, with 59% of Republicans expressing support.
Among faith communities, 56% of White Evangelical Protestants and Muslims support these protections, the lowest among all faith groups except for Jehovah’s Witnesses (40%). At 93%, Unitarian Universalists are the religious group most likely to express support for LGBTQ protections.
Connecticut and Utah have the highest percentage (86%) of residents who support LGBTQ protections, with the lowest support coming from Arkansas (60%).
Among all Americans, 60% oppose allowing small business owners to refuse service to LGBTQ individuals on religious grounds. Democrats oppose these service-refusal rights at a rate of 82%, with 34% of Republicans in opposition.
Along religious lines, 30% of White Evangelical Protestants oppose service-refusal rights for small businesses on religious grounds, which is down 8% from 2015. 85% of Unitarian Universalists oppose this.
Across the 50 states, Nebraska has the lowest percentage (44%) of people who oppose rights of refusal, with Massachusetts on the other end of the spectrum at 75%.
When asked if they support same-sex marriage, 67% of Americans (82% Democrat, 47% Republican) answered in the affirmative. This has increased by 13% since the PRRI began asking the question in 2014.
Religiously unaffiliated Americans are most likely (86%) to support same-sex marriage, with Jehovah’s Witnesses (18%) the least likely. White Evangelical Protestants support same-sex marriage at a rate of 37%, an increase of 9% since 2014.
Massachusetts, the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, has the largest support rate (81%) for the practice. The lowest rate of support for allowing same-sex marriage comes from Arkansas, at 49%.
The PRRI analysis also measures LGBTQ identification across the states and analyzes the relationship between Christian Nationalism and support for LGBTQ rights.
The report’s findings can be found here.
Senior editor at Good Faith Media.
