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Report: LGBTQ Americans Tend to Be Younger and Have No Religion

The PRRI’s report found a wide variation in views along political lines. Ninety percent of Democrats said they favor nondiscrimination laws that protect LGBTQ people in jobs, public accommodations and housing. Fewer Republicans (66%) favor such laws.

Democrats are twice as likely to oppose rules that allow small businesses to refuse service to gays or lesbians (86% compared with 41% of Republicans).

“Opposition to Religiously Based Refusals, by Religious Affiliation” Graphic courtesy of PRRI

“Nationally, PRRI continues to find that most Americans broadly support LGBTQ rights in 2022,” said Melissa Deckman, CEO of PRRI. “At the same time, partisan polarization is growing on some measures, including on religiously based refusals of service to LGBTQ Americans by business owners.”

Deckman noted that these differences are striking amid the current politicization of issues involving LGBTQ rights and with a major ruling expected from the U.S. Supreme Court this term in regard to religious refusals by business owners.

RELATED: Pastoring LGBTQ-Identifying People in Your Church With Grace and Truth

In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Colorado baker Jack Phillips, who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple; the court said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission mishandled the case. Phillips lost a state court appeal earlier this year on a different case concerning his refusal to make a cake for a transgender customer.

The court is currently considering the case of Lorie Smith, a graphic designer who wants to expand her business to make websites for weddings but said she would not make websites for same-sex weddings. Smith’s attorneys have argued that making a website is an exercise of free speech.

"Support for Same-Sex Marraige, by Religious Affiliation, 2014-2022" Graphic courtesy of PRRI

“Support for Same-Sex Marraige, by Religious Affiliation, 2014-2022” Graphic courtesy of PRRI

Researchers at PRRI also found continued disagreement among religious groups over same-sex marriage. Jews (81%), Buddhists (77%), white mainline Protestants (77%), and both white and Hispanic Catholics (75%) are among the most likely to support same-sex marriage. Jehovah’s Witnesses (19%), white evangelical Protestants (38%), Hispanic Protestants (43%) and Latter-day Saints (50%) are less likely.

Despite the opposition to same-sex marriage among Latter-day Saints, leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played a key role in supporting the Respect for Marriage Act, which was signed by President Joe Biden in late 2022. The law provided federal recognition of both same-sex marriage and interracial marriage — both of which had been previously made legal by court decisions.

This article originally appeared here.