{"id":15821,"date":"2013-06-21T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-21T17:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/ahead-of-same-sex-marriage-decisions-what-you-need-to-know\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:30:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:30:51","slug":"ahead-of-same-sex-marriage-decisions-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/06\/21\/ahead-of-same-sex-marriage-decisions-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahead of same-sex marriage decisions, what you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court is expected to rule imminently on two laws seeking to block same-sex marriage — the federal Defense of Marriage Act<\/a> and California’s Proposition 8.<\/a> Here’s a summary of major findings related to homosexuality, marriage and society, drawn mostly from the Pew Research Center’s multi-part series of reports, “LGBT in Changing Times”<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n

Public opinion on same-sex marriage<\/h2>\n\n
\n<\/a>\n

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Receive our weekly newsletter featuring new analysis on politics, social trends, religion, the media and more.
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

51% — Percentage of American public that supports<\/a> same-sex marriage. It is legal in 12 states and Washington, D.C.<\/a><\/p>\n\n

14% — Share of American public who say they’ve changed their minds<\/a> and now favor same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n\n

72% — Percentage of Americans who say legal recognition of same-sex marriage is inevitable<\/a>, regardless of whether they support or oppose it.<\/p>\n\n

5-to-1 — Ratio of news stories this spring\u00a0containing\u00a0more statements supporting same-sex marriage<\/a> to stories with more statements opposing it.<\/p>\n\n

Public acceptance of homosexuality<\/h2>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

+11 — Percentage-point increase in the share of Americans who say society should\u00a0accept\u00a0homosexuality<\/a> (from 49% in 2004 to 60% earlier this year).<\/p>\n\n

88% — Percentage saying so in Spain (the most accepting among 39 countries surveyed<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n

1% — Percentage saying so in Nigeria (the least accepting country surveyed).<\/p>\n\n

92% — Percentage of LGBT adults in America who say society has become more accepting<\/a> of them over the past 10 years.<\/p>\n\n

92% — Percentage of LGBT adults who say society will be even more accepting<\/a> 10 years from now.<\/p>\n\n

LGBT identity<\/h2>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

10 — Median age at which gay men in America said they first thought<\/a> they might be gay.<\/p>\n\n

15 — Median age at which they knew for sure.<\/p>\n\n

13 — Median age at which American lesbians said they first thought they might be lesbian.<\/p>\n\n

18 — Median age at which they knew for sure.
<\/p>\n\n

LGBT lives<\/h2>\n\n

39% —\u00a0Percentage of U.S. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults who say they’ve been rejected by a friend or family member<\/a> at some point in their lives because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n\n

6% \u00a0— Percentage who say this has happened in the past year.<\/p>\n\n

48% — Percentage of LGBT adults who don’t identify with any particular religion<\/a> (versus 20% of the U.S. general public).<\/p>\n\n

56% — Percentage of LGBT adults who identify as Democrats<\/a> (versus 8% as Republicans)<\/p>\n\n

Desire for marriage<\/h2>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

56% — Percentage of unmarried gay men in America who say they’d like to get married<\/a> someday.<\/p>\n\n

58% — Percentage of unmarried U.S. lesbians who say they would.<\/p>\n\n

45% — Percentage of unmarried bisexuals who say they would.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court is expected to rule imminently on two laws seeking to block same-sex marriage — the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8. Here’s a summary of major findings related to the issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"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":[],"_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,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[108,220,226,78],"bylines":[842],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-15821","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-lgbtq-acceptance","category-same-sex-marriage-1","category-same-sex-marriage-2","category-supreme-court","bylines-drew-desilver","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":396,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/06\/21\/ahead-of-same-sex-marriage-decisions-what-you-need-to-know\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Ahead of same-sex marriage decisions, what you need to know","description":"The Supreme Court is expected to rule imminently on two laws seeking to block same-sex marriage -- the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8. 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