{"id":13663,"date":"2015-03-06T13:52:17","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T18:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/americans-are-still-divided-on-why-people-are-gay\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:20:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:20:01","slug":"americans-are-still-divided-on-why-people-are-gay","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/03\/06\/americans-are-still-divided-on-why-people-are-gay\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans are still divided on why people are gay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Potential Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson made news earlier this week when he said that being gay is a \u201cchoice<\/a>,\u201d but when it comes to public opinion, polls show that Americans remain divided over\u00a0whether\u00a0“nature” or “nurture”\u00a0is ultimately responsible for sexual orientation.<\/p>\n\n

Four-in-ten Americans (42%) said that being gay or lesbian is “just the way some choose to live,” while a similar share (41%) said that “people are born gay or lesbian,” according to the most recent Pew Research Center poll<\/a> on the issue, conducted in 2013.<\/p>\n\n

Fewer U.S. adults (8%) said that people are gay or lesbian due to their upbringing, while another one-in-ten (9%) said they didn’t know or declined to give a response.<\/p>\n\n

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

People with the most education are the most likely to say that gays and lesbians were born that way. Indeed, 58% of Americans with a postgraduate degree say that people are born gay or lesbian, compared with just 35% of those with a high school diploma or less.<\/p>\n\n

The percentage of all Americans who believe that people are born gay or lesbian has roughly doubled<\/a> (from 20% to 41%) since 1985, when the question was asked in a Los Angeles Times survey.<\/p>\n\n

More than three decades of Gallup polls<\/a> also show a considerable rise in the view that being gay or lesbian is a product of “nature” rather than “nurture.” But the most recent survey, in 2014, still finds that the nation remains split in its feelings on the origins of sexual orientation.<\/p>\n\n

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

The 2014 Gallup poll found that 42% of respondents said gay people are born that way, while 37% said people are gay due to “factors such as their upbringing and environment.” Gallup’s surveys ask the question somewhat differently than do Pew Research surveys; Gallup does not offer respondents the option to say that homosexuality is a choice.<\/p>\n\n

In any case, the question is not settled for Americans or in the scientific community, where the ongoing search for a \u201cgay gene\u201d<\/a> has yielded intriguing results that continue to be debated. Meanwhile, the American Psychological Association says<\/a> that while there is no scientific consensus on the origins of sexual orientation, “most people experience little or no sense of choice” about it.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four-in-ten Americans said being gay or lesbian is “just the way some choose to live,” while a similar share said that “people are born gay or lesbian.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","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":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[218],"bylines":[930],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"collection":[],"class_list":["post-13663","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-lgbtq-attitudes-experiences","bylines-david-masci","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short 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