Most American adults – including two-thirds of those identifying as Catholics or Christians – disagree with religious-based denial of medical care, employment, or other services to LGBTQ individuals, a national poll has found.
The results reflect Americans’ increasing support of LGBTQ rights and protections, in sharp contrast to a growing wave of legislation and legal action nationwide chipping away at such rights and protections.
Chris Erchull, attorney for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), said the findings show most Americans believe in treating each other fairly.
“This poll shows that the current campaign of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and efforts to weaken existing nondiscrimination protections is out of step with what the majority of Americans want,” Erchull said. “…. Targeting one community with harmful legislation is not a winning political strategy long-term and runs contrary to core principles in our democracy.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by Christy Mallory, legal director for the Williams Institute and one of the study’s authors.
“Recent efforts by some state legislatures to expand religious exemptions from LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination laws are largely out of alignment with the views of most Americans,” she said in a release accompanying the findings.
A record number of anti-LGBTQ bills
As of May 23, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights group, had tallied a record 520 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in legislatures this year, with more than 40% of those targeting transgender and nonbinary people. More than 125 bills would ban transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care.
Additionally, a recent report found the number of LGBTQ-hostile states on the rise, reflecting the growing amount of legislation targeting gender-affirming care, reducing protections for transgender people, and limiting discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to rule this year in the case of Colorado web designer Lorie Smith, who is asking the state not to compel her to create web pages for same-sex weddings, which she said conflict with her religious beliefs. LGBTQ advocates fear a decision in Smith’s favor could have more far-reaching consequences.
The survey findings were gleaned from a national poll of 1,003 U.S. adults conducted in September 2022 and commissioned by nonpartisan research firm NORC at the University of Chicago in partnership with the Williams Institute, a think tank dedicated to gender identity and sexual orientation research at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law.
More than 8 in 10 respondents (84%) opposed allowing medical professionals to cite religious beliefs as a reason to deny care to LGBTQ people, while 74% said they were against letting employers deny jobs to LGBTQ individuals. About 7 in 10 (71%) said they objected to business owners citing religious beliefs as a reason for denying LGBTQ people service.
The majorities were consistent across political affiliations, religions, race, ethnicity and gender, the poll found. Women, people of color and Democrats were most likely to say they opposed discrimination against LGBTQ people on religious grounds, including more than 80% of Black respondents.
Democrats were far more likely (92%) than Republicans (71%) to oppose religious-based discrimination against LGBTQ individuals in terms of medical care, as well as business services (90% to 52%) and employment (89% to 54%).
In terms of gender differences, women were likelier (86%) than men (81%) to oppose religious-based discrimination by medical professionals, as well as by business owners (76% to 67%) and employers (79% to 69%).
Opposition to bias lowest among the most religious
When broken down by religious attendance, those regularly frequenting religious services were least likely to oppose religious-based denial of such services to LGBTQ people, though those who did still represented a majority of the group. Just 53% of that category opposed religious-based discrimination against LGBTQ people on the part of business owners, while 59% opposed such bias from employers and 71% from medical providers.
Opposition was highest among those who never attended services, with at least 8 in 10 among that group objecting to allowing religious-based discrimination by medical professionals (89%), employers (82%) and business owners (80%).
The findings, the study authors said, should give pause to policymakers, business owners and service providers given the growing pattern of restrictions against LGBTQ people.
While LGBTQ people are not explicitly protected from discrimination at the federal level, laws banning sex-based discrimination have been interpreted to extend to members of the LGBTQ community. Additionally, 33 states and the District of Columbia also provide discrimination protections in areas such as employment, housing and public accommodations.
Earlier this month, Human Rights Campaign issued its first “state of emergency” in its more than 40-year history after more than 75 anti-LGBTQ bills had been passed in state legislatures in 2023.
