Series like Will & Grace, from 1998, and films like Brokeback Mountain, already well into the 21st century, reflected a progressive normalization of homosexuality in American society. Since the 1990s, in every survey conducted, acceptance rates for the LGTBIQ+ community and same-sex marriage were higher. However, the shift towards increasingly conservative positions within the Republican Party shows that this trend is running out.
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As of 2024, a change of cycle was detected. For the first time since Gallup started asking about these issues, some indicators were falling. Now this trend is consolidating. In the latest survey, conducted in May, the percentage of Americans who believe that same-sex marriage should be legal has decreased (it falls to 65% compared to the maximum of 71% in 2023). Likewise, fewer people respect homosexual relationships. Now, 62% consider them morally acceptable, the lowest percentage in a decade, according to the Annual Survey on Values and Beliefs. This setback is mainly explained by one segment of the population: Republican voters. More specifically, men.
In a country where conservative television constantly hammers on everything related to transsexuality, it is not surprising that the acceptance of this group has also fallen, with an eight-point drop in the percentage of those who have no problem with the idea of someone transitioning gender. Now only 38% of respondents accept it.
Looking at what has happened in the last 40 years, the progress is undeniable. If in 1996 only 27% of Americans supported same-sex marriage, in 2023 the percentage was 71%. Since then, it has gradually decreased.
In 2001, Gallup first asked if respondents considered sexual relationships between two men or two women moral. At that time, only 40% of Americans said yes. In 2022, the percentage of people giving the same answer had risen to 71%. But, again, things have gone backward since then to the current 64%.
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What has happened in recent years to explain the rise of intolerance? Basically, a strong shift to the right by Republican Party voters ―and leaders―. The regressive revolution of this last decade had one of its key moments in 2022, when the Supreme Court, with a conservative supermajority, ended the right to abortion that all American women, regardless of the state they lived in, had been guaranteed since 1973. This setback is also perceptible in Republicans’ view of homosexuality.
Now, only 37% of Donald Trump’s party voters support same-sex marriage, compared to 55% in 2022. The same happens when they answer the question of whether homosexual relationships are acceptable: those who respect them are now 35%, 21 points less than in 2022. Among Democrats, however, there have been no substantial changes: 81% support them.
The acceptance of trans people, however, has fallen among voters of both parties. Only 5% of Republicans consider it acceptable for a person to want to change sex. The situation is very different among Democrats: 60% show their support, seven points less than in 2021.
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