“Evangelical” is generally not a word that people associate with acceptance and favoring of equals rights, but results of a recent study indicate that the majority of Evangelicals support equal protections for LGBTQ people, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.
Along with the Evangelicals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, moderates… well, actually every demographic that was surveyed supported LGBTQ protections. A very uplifting statistic indeed. 86% of people who belong to a New Age religion, 80% of Jewish people, 79% of Hindus, 70% of Mormons, 71% of white Protestants, and many other majorities support these protections. While not quite as many, 54% of Evangelicals support LGBTQ protections. However, while 54% of Evangelicals support LGBTQ protections, 65% still support laws that would allow businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ people.
Adding to the good news, the majority of people in every region in every state support LGBTQ people being legally protected from discrimination. Most of the support comes from New England, with 81% of people in New Hampshire supporting the protections, and 77% of people in Vermont doing the same. The West shows similar results while the southern states only support LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws by a small majority, but a small majority is still a majority.
Additionally, 76% of Americans aged 18-29 support anti-discrimination laws while 59% of people aged 65 or older support the laws. Overall, 69% of Americans believe discrimination against LGBTQ people should be illegal. These statistics are great and are potentially indicative of positive, but I remain skeptical because there seems to be a disconnect between what people believe and how they vote. If the majority of Americans really do support protections for LGBTQ people, then that should be reflected in their actions but it doesn’t seem to play out that way. Look at the bill that Brian Kemp of Georgia promoted that would allow businesses to deny service to LGBTQ people. I am happy to know that the majority of Americans support LGBTQ protections, I just wish that would be reflected in the legislature.
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h/t: prri.org