Surge in Support for Marriage Equality Among Republicans

Support for marriage equality is at an all-time high in the U.S., even among some conservatives. Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll found more than 70 percent of Americans support the 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized marriage for same sex couples nationally.

The most notable change comes from a somewhat unlikely group—republicans. In 2020, only 44 percent of republicans supported marriage equality, but that number has jumped more than 10 percent in the past year alone. While the statistics appear promising for LGBTQ acceptance within the republican party, some people suggest it’s merely a factor of a shift in focus.

In the wake of the Obergefell v Hodges decision, religious GOP members poured millions of dollars and hundreds of hours into invalidating the ruling. Prominent, republican figures like Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Marco Rubio (just to name a few) were adamently against the decision but abandoned their crusade upon realizing that the majority of America wasn’t behind their efforts. In 2021, those same GOP politicians have found a new target for their attacks: trans rights.

The fight for trans rights will be the next great battle for pro-LGBTQ lawmakers, but Barbara Simon, head of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), is encouraged after witnessing the shift in sentiments for marriage equality. “As more Americans see and know LGBTQ people and couples, they see our relationships are as loving, as valuable, and as worth protecting as any straight marriage,” she says. “It shows undeniable forward progress for LGBTQ acceptance.”

As LGBTQ acceptance grows, more people feel comfortable exploring and claiming their queer identities. Gallup found that one in six adults born between 1997 and 2021 consider themselves to not be heterosexual, and 5.6 percent of adult populations say that they are a part of the LGBTQ community. Eleven-point-three percent of people in that subset identify as transgender.

With numbers for LGBTQ populations and support on the rise, Simon says the next, natural step is passing the Equality Act that currently sits in the Senate after passing through the House. “Historic support for our families should be a clear signal to every U.S. senator that the time has come to pass the Equality Act,” Simon says. “The Senate should join the overwhelming majority of Americans in supporting laws that make our families and our country safer and stronger.”