57% of Americans Support Civil Unions
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A new poll, by the Pew Research Center reports that 57% of Americans support the idea of allowing gays and lesbians to enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships to protect their rights.
The results of the national survey, Majority Continues to Support Civil Unions, (released Oct. 9, 2009) found that “support for civil unions stands at an all time high.”
A clear majority of Americans (57%) favors allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into legal agreements with each other that would give them many of the same rights as married couples....”
Only 37% of Americans oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into legal agreements with each other.
The poll found that support for civil unions is widespread across the political spectrum - 59% of moderate and liberal Republicans support civil unions, as do 54% of moderate and conservative Democrats, 76% of liberal Democrats, and 63% of independents.
Only a slim majority (53%) of conservative Republicans still oppose civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.
The poll also found that the widespread support for civil unions among almost all religious groups, even those opposed to legalizing gay marriage - 62% of Catholics support civil unions, as do 66% of white mainline Protestants, 68% of the religiously unaffiliated, and 68% of the white evangelicals who attend church less frequently.
Support for civil unions was low only among White Evangelicals (39%) and Black Protestants (43%).
A majority of men (54%) and women (60%) favor civil unions, and support is particularly high among college graduates (70%) and Americans under age 30 (68%).
One surprising result is that the poll found growing support for civil unions among the opponents of same-sex marriage.
There has been a six-point increase in support for civil unions (from 24% to 30%)” among Americans who oppose same-sex marriage.”
The number of Republicans who support civil unions also rose significantly, from 40% in 2008 to 48% in 2009.
Americans are also very aware of how widespread discrimination against gays and lesbians is. This almost certainly explains the growing support for legalized civil unions that would guarantee same-sex couples the same legal rights and protections that married couples have.
According to the survey, 64% of Americans think “gays and lesbians face a lot of discrimination.” American also think that gays and lesbians face more discrimination than any other group including; Muslims (58%), Hispanics (52%), Blacks (49%), Women (37%), Evangelical Christians (27%), Atheists (26%), or Mormons (24%).
While support for civil unions has reached an all time high (57%), only 39% of Americans favor legalizing same-sex marriage, and 53% of Americans still oppose same-sex marriage.
Awareness is growing, and the trend is toward more tolerance not less, but supporters of same-sex marriage are almost evenly divided about which strategy to pursue in their struggle for equal rights.
Among those who support legalizing same-sex marriage, 45% think they should push hard to make it legal as soon as possible, while 42% feel they should not push too hard to make same-sex marriage legal immediately, because of the risk of creating a backlash against gays and lesbians.
The longest journey starts with a single step.
Lao Tse
Americans have a long history of recognizing discrimination and taking the steps to eliminate it. We’ve outgrown legalized discrimination against many groups including Catholics, blacks, and women. Eventually, we’ll outgrow discrimination against gays and lesbians too.
And we’ll probably do it one step at a time.
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