Days after the Supreme Court’s ruling that businesses can deny same-sex wedding services if it clashes with their religious views, new data says most American voters disagree with that position.
Last week, the nation’s high court sided with a Colorado business owner who argued a state non-discrimination law could not compel her to make same-sex websites.
The survey, conducted by Data for Progress, found 65% of voters believe businesses should not be allowed to turn away customers who are of a particular sexual orientation because of the business owner’s personal beliefs.
The findings come as LGBTQ rights are increasingly under attack in state Legislatures and other courts.
A matter of free speech:Supreme Court backs web developer who didn’t want to create same-sex wedding sites
Despite the onslaught of moves to curtail the rights of LGBTQ people, the Data for Progress survey found voters “consistently land on the side of nondiscrimination, rejecting the idea that business owners should be able to refuse services to a member of a protected class based on personal beliefs,” said Rob Todaro, the group’s communications director.
What did the Supreme Court say about LGBTQ rights?
The Supreme Court’s 303 Creative v. Elenis decision sided with a web designer who argued a Colorado anti-discrimination law couldn’t be used to compel her to develop same-sex wedding sites.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the 6-3 opinion, which was decided on ideological lines.
After the decision, LGBTQ advocates warned it could lead to more discrimination at places of business.
“The United States Supreme Court, with its decision in 303 Creative LLC vs. Elenis, today gave the greenlight to some businesses to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community,” said Out and Equal, a group that works for LGBTQ equality in the workplace and advises corporate human resources departments.
‘Yet another weapon in the arsenal’ of anti-LGBTQ hate
Across the U.S., LGBTQ people make up only 7.2% of adults in the U.S. Yet their rights have increasingly come under attack in state legislatures.
Many anti-LGBTQ bills introduced and passed in state houses in recent years were pushed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group. In the 303 Creative v. Elenis case, the CEO and president of the ADF argued before the high court on behalf of the web designer.
In legal filings, the Alliance Defending Freedom argued the Colorado law “requires her to create custom websites celebrating same-sex marriage.”
Advocates and legal experts say such arguments can foster fear of LGBTQ people.
“The ADF is counting on you to join them in seeing the LGBTQ community as an outsized threat compared to the actual percentage of adult Americans who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” said Heron Greenesmith, a lawyer with the legal advocacy group Political Research Associated and a professor at Boston University’s School of Law.
The Supreme Court’s decision in the case is “yet another weapon in the arsenal or arm of the octopus” of the “same people who are pushing the legislation,” Greenesmith said.
Most Americans support LGBTQ rights
Other recent data also has shown that the majority of Americans support policies protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination.
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, according to a September 2022 survey conducted by 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.
And a significant group of Americans vote based on their pro-LGBTQ political values, researchers have found.
The Human Rights Campaign in 2016 began quantifying support for LGBTQ rights among everyday Americans by identifying voters who said they support pro-LGBTQ rights political candidates and vote against anti-LGBTQ candidates.
This group of voters, dubbed “equality voters,” accounted for 29% of the electorate in 2018, according to Human Rights Campaign data. In comparison, white Evangelicals made up 26% of voters.
Non-discrimination protections never passed in Congress
Experts say LGBTQ rights are particularly vulnerable to Supreme Court decisions because Congress has never passed anti-discrimination protections related to public accommodations for sexual orientation and gender identity, unlike longstanding protections for race.
Democratic lawmakers in Congress have repeatedly introduced and championed the Equality Act in recent years, but it has never cleared both chambers.
The law would require states to put in place non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people in public spaces, which include businesses like restaurants, gas stations and hotels.
Contributing: John Fritze, USA TODAY; Kate Sosin, The 19th
