LGBTQ Civil Rights Support Highest Among Atheists, Agnostics, and Unitarians

Agnostics rank one point higher than atheists.

As per data by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), a vast majority of U.S. citizens continue to support wide nondiscrimination protections applicable for LGBT individuals.[/tweetit] Sixty-nine percent of Americans favor laws which would protect such individuals from being discriminated against in housing, jobs, and public accommodations. The support for such protections has kept steady from 2014, with approximately 70 percent of Americans favoring non-discrimination protections in 2015 (71 percent), 2016 (72 percent), and 2017 (70 percent). Younger U.S. citizens are much more probable compared to their older compatriots on supporting LGBT protection laws. About 76 percent of Americans in the 18 to 29 years age group favor these laws, compared to only 59 percent of seniors aged 65 years or older.

LGBTQ Civil Rights Support Highest Among Atheists, Agnostics, and Unitarians[/tweetthis]

When it comes to politics, there is bipartisan support for non-discrimination protections—79 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of Republicans favor such laws. Independents stand at 70 percent who support laws protecting LGBTs from discrimination.

The PRRI data shows some interesting trends, like the support for non-discriminatory laws sliding among Republicans, from 61 percent in 2015 to 56 percent in 2018. Theories abound concerning this, one of them being “traditional” Republicans abandoning the party after Donald Trump became the president and leader of the GOP. The party, in that sense, now consists of conservative white evangelicals. This theory can easily be surmised to be erroneous as the drop in non-discrimination support is maximum among young GOP members, who are presumably less enthused by religious motivations compared to older Republicans. The decline in support among GOP members below 30 years of age for anti-discrimination provisions was particularly sharp, from 74 percent in 2015 to 63 percent in 2019.

As a worshipper of the Holy Unit, this doesn't surprise me. https://t.co/XXowqpYQB2

— Doug Sharp (@DougDroogSharp) March 27, 2019

The data gave no surprise when it showed that 90 percent of the Unitarians or Universalists support anti-discrimination. The unaffiliated tally, however, came to 78 percent. The second statistic could mislead as the unaffiliated tag is given to atheists and agnostics lumped together. It also includes religious people who are not a part of any specific religious group. When this heading is broken down, then a better picture comes into view. It seems that 87 percent of atheists support non-discriminatory protections. Among agnostics, about 88 percent are in favor and the “nothing in particular” category totals about 74 percent.

Resources

• PRRI
• Patheos

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