{"id":11572,"date":"2017-12-05T09:32:51","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T14:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/supreme-court-same-sex-wedding-cake-case-reflects-split-among-american-public\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:15:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:15:39","slug":"supreme-court-same-sex-wedding-cake-case-reflects-split-among-american-public","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2017\/12\/05\/supreme-court-same-sex-wedding-cake-case-reflects-split-among-american-public\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court same-sex wedding cake case reflects split among American public"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on a question that divided the American people in a 2016 Pew Research Center survey<\/a>: whether businesses that provide wedding services should be required to cater to same-sex couples or whether they should be able to refuse based on religious objections to homosexuality.<\/p>\n\n

The case the justices will take up<\/a> involves a Colorado bakery owner who argues that he should not be forced to make cakes for same-sex weddings because such unions conflict with his religious beliefs. A same-sex couple attempted to order a cake from the owner\u2019s shop, and, after the owner declined, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled he was in violation of a state law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

The question at the center of the case echoes one the Center posed to Americans last year. In that survey, U.S. adults were evenly divided, with roughly half (49%) saying businesses should be required to provide wedding services to same-sex couples, and a nearly identical share (48%) saying that they should be able to refuse to provide services due to religious objections.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

There were sharp differences based on respondents\u2019 religious affiliation and political party. A large majority of white evangelical Protestants (77%) said businesses should be allowed to refuse service to same-sex couples, while most religiously unaffiliated Americans (65%) and Jews (64%) took the opposite position. In addition, most Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican Party (71%) said refusal of service based on religious objections is acceptable, while two-thirds of Democrats (67%) disagreed, saying instead that wedding-related businesses should be required to serve same-sex couples just as they would any other couple.<\/p>\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n

Not only was the overall public evenly split on this question, but relatively few Americans said they could\u00a0sympathize with both sides of the debate<\/a>. Roughly a third of U.S. adults (36%) said they sympathize only with the view that businesses should be required to serve same-sex couples, while about three-in-ten (31%) sympathized only with the view that businesses should be able to refuse service due to religious objections. Just 18% said they sympathize at least some with both sides, while an additional 15% sympathized with neither<\/em> perspective.<\/p>\n\n

The Colorado case has reached the high court amid a backdrop of rising societal acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Seven-in-ten Americans now say homosexuality should be accepted by society<\/a>, up from 51% who held this view in 2006. Even among Republicans and those who lean toward the GOP, a slim majority (54%) now say society should accept homosexuality.<\/p>\n\n

Similarly, support for same-sex marriage has been rising for more than a decade<\/a>, with 62% of U.S. adults now in favor of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally. Again, there are stark differences by both religion and political party, but support for same-sex marriage has been rising across the board, including among white evangelical Protestants and Republicans.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Americans are divided over whether businesses that provide wedding services should be required to cater to same-sex couples even if their owners have religious objections to homosexuality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,167,220,226,78],"bylines":[854],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"class_list":["post-11572","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-federal-government","category-religion-lgbtq-acceptance","category-same-sex-marriage-1","category-same-sex-marriage-2","category-supreme-court","bylines-michael-lipka","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short 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