Recent polls show that American attitudes toward same-sex marriage, same-sex relationships, and transgender identity continue to decline after peaking several years ago.
Gallup, which surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. adults from May 1 to May 17, 2026, found that the decline in favorable views of LGBTQ issues is largely due to a decline in pro-LGBTQ views among Republicans.
Since 1996, Gallup has asked the following questions each year: Survey on values ​​and beliefswhether Americans support same-sex marriage. In the first year, only 27% of U.S. adults said they supported the policy. That number has gradually increased, increasing significantly every year since 2010, reaching 71% in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, his approval rating dropped to 69% and has continued to decline ever since.
Support for same-sex marriage stands at 87% among Democrats and 67% among independents, but only 37% among Republicans. This shows a modest decline among independents and a sharp decline among Republicans, of whom 55% say they still support same-sex marriage in 2022.
Gallup also asked Americans whether they view same-sex relationships as morally acceptable or morally wrong. When this question was first asked in 2001, 40% of American adults said they believed same-sex relationships were morally acceptable. By 2022, this number rose to 71%. By 2023, that number had fallen sharply, with just 64% of American adults finding same-sex behavior morally acceptable. That number now stands at 62%, the lowest since 2016.
Republicans have also become less accepting of same-sex relationships, with just 35% saying they think same-sex relationships are morally acceptable, down 21 points from a peak of 56% in 2022. Meanwhile, the share of independents who think same-sex relationships are morally acceptable has declined more slowly, falling from 72% to 64% starting in 2022. By comparison, 81% of Democrats think same-sex relationships are morally acceptable.
Currently, only 5% of Republicans say it is morally acceptable to change one’s gender, compared to 42% of independents and 60% of Democrats. Support for this view has declined most significantly among Republicans, where just five years ago 22% of Republicans thought this view was morally acceptable.
By comparison, the share of independents who say changing gender is morally acceptable has fallen from 48% in 2021 to 42% in 2026. Support for that idea among Democrats has also fallen, from 67% in 2021 to 60% now, including a significant drop over the past year.
When Gallup first began asking about the morality of changing gender in 2021, 46% of U.S. adults judged changing gender to be morally acceptable, and 51% found changing gender to be morally wrong. Those numbers have since trended in the opposite direction, with only 38% of U.S. adults now saying they believe it is morally permissible to change gender, and 57% saying it is “morally wrong.”
Americans’ tolerance of LGBTQ people has been increasing for nearly two decades, but has declined since peaking in the early 2020s. The decline, also fueled by a decline in Republican support, coincides with efforts by conservative politicians to push back on diversity, equity and inclusion, and against state-level laws that limit transgender rights or deny recognition of transgender identity as legitimate.
Due to the heated rhetoric surrounding these laws and efforts by social conservatives to stir up anti-LGBTQ sentiment among the general public, including inciting protests against visible LGBTQ events, many LGBTQ people increasingly find themselves labeled as “pedophiles” or “groomers.” As long as LGBTQ identity remains a cultural wedge issue in politics, support for same-sex marriage is likely to continue to decline, while the view that same-sex activism or gender transition is “morally wrong” will become more common in the coming years.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
