OPINION:
The tides are turning when it comes to Americans’ views on LGBTQ issues, with decreases across the board on everything from support for same-sex nuptials to moral beliefs on attempts to change one’s gender.
Before we get into the “why,” it’s essential to understand exactly what’s unfolding. Though the majority of Americans (65%) still favor the legalization of same-sex matrimony, support is down 6 percentage points since its height in 2022 and 2023, according to Gallup.
There’s also been a decline in the percentage of those who believe gay and lesbian relationships are “morally acceptable,” with 62% fitting into that category — the lowest percentage observed since 2016. For context, that share was 40% in 2001.
The third issue — so-called gender reassignment — is now at just 38% moral acceptability, a decline of 8 percentage points over the past few years. In 2021, that percentage was 46%, showing a steep decline that cannot be ignored.
Digging beneath the numbers, it’s easy to see that the most notable shifts are being primarily driven by Republicans. On gay marriage, just 37% of GOP adherents support legalized gay marriage, down from 55% in 2021 and 2022.
The same Republican trend can be seen when it comes to the belief that gay and lesbian relationships are moral. Right now, just 35% of GOP adherents believe this, down 21 percentage points from 2022.
As for the moral acceptability of transitioning one’s gender, only 5% of Republicans believe such a move is ethical, showcasing a 22-percentage-point decline.
It should be noted that independents also have seen modest decreases when it comes to support for legalized gay marriage (6 points down) and the morality of gay and lesbian relationships (8 points down).
These statistics are important to understand for a plethora of reasons. For years, culture has been moving in a more progressive and relativistic direction, yet something changed during the 2024 elections as a litany of issues forced Americans to rethink this approach.
For many years, people had been told that an embrace of same-sex marriage wouldn’t change anything — that everyone else’s marriages and lives would be unsullied and untouched.
And, for many in the LGBTQ community, this was an authentic promise. Yet some activists had different plans. Once same-sex nuptials were legalized nationwide after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Obergefell v. Hodges decision in June 2015, it seemed there was no end to the advocacy and cultural insanity that followed.
Soon, Christian bakers were being fined six figures for declining to make same-sex wedding cakes, photographers were being bullied into providing services for gay weddings, and anyone unwilling — due to their sincerely-held religious beliefs — to participate found themselves on the cancel culture chopping block.
Though some in the LGBTQ community rebuffed these efforts, others went full bore. As the debates percolated, it seemed the cultural headwinds were simply heading in an anti-Christian direction, with liberals taking the reins of control and punishing faithful business owners.
Then, the transgender movement’s power began to elevate. And with that, the presence of biological men in women’s sports became a major issue, with safety and fairness concerns raging. Many LGBTQ activists argued that biological men deserved to be in women’s sports, further sparking alarm.
With the issue then making its way into high school locker rooms, where males, again, were given presence in females’ spaces, that hysteria only swelled. Meanwhile, the public became aware of children being put on puberty blockers and undergoing “gender-affirming” surgeries — again igniting worries and horror.
Cancel culture attempted to silence those seeking common sense on child transitions and men in women’s sports, but this tactic failed. People such as President Trump and other public figures began speaking out, which gave ordinary citizens permission to voice their own concerns.
In many ways, the gender chaos shifted the 2024 elections away from progressives who were hostile toward these common-sense worries. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a Christian organization, says he believes the public shifts seen in the Gallup data are rooted in false promises that gay marriage wouldn’t impact any other issues.
“I think most Americans are pretty much laissez-faire …’Just don’t bother me,’” Mr. Perkins told CBN News. “And they were sold that this was not going to affect them, that this was just about two people who loved each other being able to marry.
“Well, here we are … about a little over a decade removed from that, and we realize it’s about much more. It’s about the policies that govern bathrooms all across America, it’s about what our children are being indoctrinated with in schools and the parents not being told about it.”
Mr. Perkins is right. If progressives are looking for anyone to blame for their losses on LGBTQ rights, they can safely grab a mirror and stare at the reflection of a people who vastly overplayed their hands.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Mr. Hallowell is also the author of four books.
Follow the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.