A new national survey released March 4 by PRRI – the Public Religion Research Institute (a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting independent research at the intersection of religion, culture, and public policy) – profiles LGBTQ Americans and tracks Americans’ views on LGBTQ rights across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Based on interviews with more than 22,000 adults throughout 2024, the data from the 2024 PRRI American Values Atlas measures public opinion on LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, religiously based service refusals, and same-sex marriage. In 2024, the survey included two new questions about access to gender-affirming care for minors and gender markers on official forms of identification to better understand views on policies affecting transgender Americans.
In 2024, most Americans continue to support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals (75 percent), oppose allowing religiously based service refusals (58 percent), and favor same-sex marriage (67 percent). Fewer than four in ten Americans, however, oppose laws that require driver’s licenses to display sex at birth rather than gender identity (37 percent). When asked about laws that would prevent parents from allowing their child to receive medical care for a gender transition, Americans are evenly split (49 percent oppose vs. 47 percent in favor).
“Support for LGBTQ rights, including marriage equality and non-discrimination protections, have largely stabilized after some modest declines last year, with strong majorities — including majorities of most people of faith — supporting such policies,” said Melissa Deckman, Ph.D., CEO of PRRI. “Americans are more divided on the rights of transgender Americans, however, largely polarized along partisan lines.”
In addition to partisan divisions on LGBTQ rights, PRRI data shows that Americans’ views on these policies are also starkly divided depending on their state of residence and religious affiliation. Additional analysis finds that Americans who qualify as Christian nationalism Rejecters are notably more likely to support LGBTQ rights than Skeptics, Sympathizers, or Adherents.
Strong majorities of Americans — including most people of faith — support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals.
Democrats (89 percent) are the most supportive of LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, followed by independents (78 percent) and Republicans (62 percent). Since 2015, support has grown among Democrats and independents, while Republican support has remained steady. Young Americans ages 18-29 have experienced a gradual decrease in support since 2015, from 80 percent to 75 percent. In contrast, older Americans ages 50-64 (68 percent vs. 75 percent) and seniors 65 and over (61 percent vs. 75 percent) have increased their support since 2015.
The five states with the lowest levels of support for these protections are Oklahoma (57 percent), Arkansas (60 percent), South Dakota (65 percent), Wyoming (65 percent), and South Carolina (66 percent). Additionally, Americans who live in states that have legal protections for LGBTQ people in jobs, public accommodations, and housing are slightly more likely than those in states without these protections to favor nondiscrimination laws (78 percent vs. 71 percent).
Opposition to religiously based service refusals for LGBTQ people has remained stable for the most part but declined among Republicans and some religious groups.
In 2024, Republicans (35 percent) are less likely than both Democrats (83 percent) and independents (56 percent) to oppose allowing small business owners to refuse service to LGBTQ people based on their religious beliefs. Among Republicans, opposition has declined in recent years, dropping from a high of 44 percent in 2021 to a low of 34 percent in 2023.
Opposition to religiously based service refusals has remained relatively stable among most religious groups from 2015 to 2024, with strong majorities of religious minorities, such as Unitarian Universalists, Hindus, Buddhists, Jewish Americans, and Muslims, and the religiously unaffiliated, opposed to religiously based refusals. Most Christians of color, including Hispanic Catholics (67 percent) and Black Protestants (67 percent), along with white Catholics (56 percent) and white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (55 percent), have also shown steady majority opposition. Latter-day Saints (40 percent), Jehovah’s Witnesses (37 percent), and white evangelical Protestants (31 percent) show the lowest opposition, with the latter two groups showing declines from 51 percent and 38 percent, respectively, in 2015. Hispanic Protestants (50 percent) have also grown less likely to oppose religiously based refusals, down from 59 percent in 2015.
Christian nationalism Rejecters (82 percent) are significantly more likely to oppose religiously based service refusals than Skeptics (59 percent), Sympathizers (41 percent), and Adherents (33 percent).
While majorities in virtually all states support marriage equality, support is higher in states where same-sex marriage would remain legal if Obergefell v. Hodges were overturned.
Two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) support allowing same-sex couples to marry legally, compared with 29 percent who oppose this policy. This reflects a 13-percentage-point increase in support since 2014, when a slim majority was in favor (54 percent). Nearly all Christian nationalism Rejecters (92 percent) and three-fourths of Skeptics (74 percent) support same-sex marriage, compared with 46 percent of Sympathizers and 23 percent of Adherents.
Solid majorities in nearly every state and the District of Columbia now back same-sex marriage, with the highest support in Massachusetts (87 percent), Vermont (86 percent), and the District of Columbia (82 percent). In contrast, states with the least support include Oklahoma (50 percent), West Virginia (51 percent), Louisiana (52 percent), South Carolina (54 percent), and Tennessee (54 percent).
While registered Republicans in South Carolina out number Democratic party members by practically 15 percent, cities such as Charleston, Columbia and Greenville lean left and provide a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community. However, they are largely incapable of accomplishing any pro-LGBTQ+ legislation because the state governing body is controlled by MAGA Republicans.
For Americans who live in states where same-sex marriage would continue to be legal if the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision were overturned (73 percent) are 10 percentage points more likely to favor marriage equality than those who live in states where same-sex marriage would no longer be legal (63 percent).
Americans are divided on banning gender-affirming care for minors; fewer than half oppose laws requiring government IDs to show sex at birth instead of gender identity.
When asked about laws that would prevent parents from allowing their child to receive medical care for a gender transition, Democrats are most likely to oppose such laws (70 percent), followed by independents (49 percent) and Republicans (30 percent). Across different religious groups, Unitarian Universalists (69 percent), Jewish Americans (63 percent), and religiously unaffiliated Americans (62 percent) are the most strongly opposed to laws that prevent parents from allowing their child to receive gender-affirming medical care. Residents of states without bans are more likely to oppose such laws than those in states with bans (54 percent vs. 44 percent).
Democrats (60 percent) are more than four times as likely as Republicans (14 percent) to oppose laws that require driver’s licenses and government IDs to show a person’s sex at birth rather than their gender identity, while independents mirror the national average (37 percent). Among religious Americans, white evangelical Protestants (15 percent) are the least likely to oppose these laws, followed by Jehovah’s Witnesses (24 percent) and Latter-day Saints (25 percent). Most states allow gender marker changes on licenses, though requirements vary. Four states — Kansas, Texas, Florida, and and our neighboring Tennessee — prohibit these changes. However, residents in these states do not exhibit the lowest opposition to laws that require IDs to display sex at birth.