Americans favor most rights and benefits for LGBT people, and that
attitudes towards LGBT people have improved dramatically over the
past few years.
Of particular interest to LGBT families:
- Three-quarters of U.S. adults (75%) favor either marriage or
domestic partnerships/civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.
Only about two in 10 (22%) say gay and lesbian couples should have
no legal recognition. (Gay and lesbian couples are able to marry in
two states, and comprehensive civil union or domestic partnership
laws exist in only five others and the District of Columbia.) - U.S. adults are now about evenly divided on whether they
support allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry (47%
favor to 49% oppose). - Nearly seven out of 10 U.S. adults (69%) oppose laws that would
ban qualified gay and lesbian couples from adopting children. (In
several states, gay and lesbian couples are banned from
adopting.)
People whose opinions about LGBT people have improved in the last
few years cite a number of reasons for the positive development.
The top three are: knowing LGBT people personally, knowing that
laws passed supporting LGBT people, and knowing the opinions of
their family members and friends.
Which means we’ve got a lot of work to do sharing our stories,
being out and visible, especially as families, to achieve family
equality.
If you haven’t already, sign up to Declare Your
Family Equal and participate in our post-election visibility
campaign. We have a YouTube video you can share with family,
friends and strangers that shows are families are and drives the
message home:
We Are Equal. Treat Us Equally.
The poll was conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned
by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). See the
full results here.