Public opinion polls on homosexuality

On change, acceptability,
cause(s) and employment

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Effectiveness of transformational ministries at "changing" gays:

These are typically conservative Christian ministries devoted to changing the behaviors of persons with a homosexual or bisexual orientation. More details. The general public appears to agree that their approach does not "cure" homosexuality. During the week of 1998-JUL-17, the McLaughlin Group conducted a public opinion poll via the Internet on the effectiveness of "love, understanding and the word of God" in converting a gay or lesbian to heterosexuality. 93% believe that such techniques are ineffective in changing one's sexual orientation. ₁

Is homosexual behavior acceptable?

Apoll by the Gallup Organization has been conducted annually in recent years. It asks: "Do you feel that homosexuality should be considered an acceptable alternative lifestyle or not?" This is almost a meaningless question. A person's answer might well depend upon what exact group is being referred to.

Most political and religious conservatives probably have no difficulty answering that it is always morally wrong. However, a substantial portion of the public probably believes that the morality of any sexual behavior depends upon the situation and the precise meaning of the question:

• Some subjects might consider homosexual behavior by persons with a heterosexual orientation to be morally wrong; the same activity by homosexuals might be acceptable.
• Some might interpret the question as asking whether homosexual behavior is acceptable or not for them.
• Others might interpret the question to refer to society at large.
• Others might assume that the question refers only to persons with a homosexual orientation.
• Some subjects might believe that the question is unanswerable because they would consider that:
  • Any manipulative, coercive or unsafe sex to be immoral;
  • Consensual, safe sex by two adults in a monogamous, committed relationship would be moral - whether gay or straight.

  Thus, homosexual behavior could be acceptable or not depending upon the circumstances.

But answers such as "it depends upon the situation" are not allowed. It is surprising that a polling organization as skilled as the Gallup Organization would create such a poorly worded question.

Another criticism of the question relates to the word "lifestyle." The term refers to choices that people make about their life: whether to be self-employed or work for a company; whether to live in the country, suburbs or city; whether to go to university, technical school or terminate their education at the high school level. The use of this term implies that one's sexual orientation is also a chosen factor. This tends to bias people's reactions. Adults tend to be more accepting of factors that are genetically determined rather than chosen.

One is left wondering what the results would be to a survey that asked: "Do you personally believe that it is acceptable or not acceptable for gays and lesbians to engage in same-sex behavior?"

They have asked: "Do you feel that homosexuality should be considered an acceptable alternative lifestyle or not?"

American adults approval of homosexual behavior appears to be steadily increasing. The percentage of adults who are undecided is dropping steadily as the country becomes more polarized. ₅

Should homosexual activity be legal?

The Gallup Organization has conducted another useful poll annually in recent years. ₅ They ask "Do you think homosexual relations between consenting adults should or should not be legal? According to the Associated Press, sodomy laws remained on the books in 13 states as of the end of 2002. "Sodomy" was illegal for everyone -- gay and straight; married or not -- in Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. In addition, four contiguous states, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, criminalized certain forms of sexual behavior between persons of the same gender, but permit them if performed by a man and woman. All of these laws were invalidated by a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas during mid-2003.

Gallup has been polling American adults since 1977 to learn their belief whether homosexual activity should be criminalized:

Polls on most homosexuality topics show a gradual acceptance of homosexual orientation over time. The question of whether to legalize or criminalize homosexual behavior shows a curious anomaly. In the early 1980s, acceptance of homosexual behavior took a nosedive and did not recover until sometime between mid 1988 and the fall of 1989. The Gallup Organization attributes this temporary reversal to either the "conservative environment ushered in by the Reagan administration, or the beginning of widespread publicity surrounding AIDS..."

Is sexual orientation caused by genes, the environment, or both?

The Gallup Organization has repeatedly conducted polls on what people believe to be the cause(s) of sexual orientation. The same question has been asked in polls from 1977 to 2003: whether homosexuality is something "a person is born with" or is "due to other factors such as upbringing or environment," or both, or neither. This is a properly worded question -- one that covers all of the bases. However, in recent years they seem to have restricted the allowable answers, and thus made the poll much less useful. ₆

Margin of error is generally ± 3 to 5%.

The Opinion Research Corporation conducted a poll on 2007-JUN-27: ₆

Barna Research conducted a similar poll during 2001-MAY. They found:

These polling questions are particularly interesting, because the question has actually been settled by studies of identical twins separated at birth and raised in different families. Data shows that, at least for male gays, sexual orientation is primarily genetically determined, but appears to rely on an environmental trigger which may or may not occur in an individual's early childhood. The Barna poll and more recent Gallup poll assumed that the "cause" of homosexuality is either purely genetics or always due to the environment. They didn't consider the possibility that it might be both factors interacting in each individual. _2,3,5

Barna Research also determined that 85% of Evangelicals, 61% of born-again adults, and 65% of those who attend conservative Protestant churches believe that a person chooses to be a homosexual. ₄

Equal job opportunities for gays and lesbians:

The Gallup Organization has conducted polls since 1977, asking the question: "As you may know, there has been considerable discussion in the news regarding the rights of homosexual men and women. In general, do you think homosexuals should or should not have equal rights in terms of job opportunities?" With one minor exception, the results show a continually increasing preference by the pubic to end discrimination against gays and lesbians, at least in the area of employment:

However, when asked in 2001-MAY, whether gays and lesbians should be hired for various occupations, responses varied by profession. 91% of the public believed, that homosexuals should be hired as salespersons. But this dropped to 56% for elementary school teachers and 54% for clergy.  72% felt that gays should be allowed to serve in the armed forces; 23% were opposed. This compared with 57% and 37% in 1992. _2,5

References:

1. The McLaughlin Group's home page is at: http://www.mclaughlin.com. Poll data appears to be no longer available.
2. "Americans remain more likely to believe sexual orientation due to environment, not genetics," Gallup Poll Archives, at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr980725.asp *
3. "Gallup poll topics: A-Z: Homosexual relations," at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/indicators/ *
4. "Born-again adults remain firm in opposition to abortion and gay marriage," Barna Research, at: http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/
5. "Six out of 10 Americans Say Homosexual Relations Should Be Recognized as Legal," The Gallup Organization, 2003-MAY-15, at: http://www.gallup.com/ *
6. "Polls and surveys on 'born gay'," Born Gay ProCon, at: http://www.borngayprocon.org/survey.htm

* Gallup Poll data typically remains accessible to the public for a limited time, and then requires a premium membership to access.

Copyright © 2001 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-JUL-30
Latest update: 2008-AUG-17
Author: B.A. Robinson

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