Fewer LGBTQ+ couples are marrying as GOP increasingly targets same-sex marriage

Fewer LGBTQ+ couples are marrying as GOP increasingly targets same-sex marriage
LGBTQ

Fewer LGBTQ+ couples are marrying as GOP increasingly targets same-sex marriage

The percentage of LGBTQ+ people getting married has dropped from its all-time high of 10.2% in 2016-2017 to 8% from 2021-2024, according to a newly released Gallup poll. Despite this, the overall number of same-sex couples in the U.S. is at an all time high, despite the lower percentage of queer people currently marrying.

It’s unclear what is causing the decline, but it occurs just as the U.S. is about to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision, which legalized same-sex marriages nationwide.

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Republicans in 9 states are pushing measures to end same-sex marriage rights

Republicans at the state level are urging the Supreme Court to overturn same-sex couples’ right to marry.

“Even though the percentage of LGBTQ+ adults who are married to a same-sex spouse has declined, the number of same-sex marriages in the U.S. is still likely higher than in the past. That is because the percentage of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. population as a whole is increasing more than the marriage rate among LGBTQ+ adults is decreasing,” Gallup said of its survey, The Hill reported.

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The poll comes barely a week after a different Gallup poll that showed varying levels of support for same-sex marriage among different political affiliations.

That poll showed that support for marriage equality went up among Democrats to the highest level it has ever been, while support for marriage equality among Republicans dropped for the third year in a row, creating the largest recorded gap between the parties on the topic.

The Gallup poll asked people whether same-sex couples should be legally allowed to get married. Approximately 88% of Democrats said yes, up from 83% in 2024. But only 41% of Republicans said yes, down from a high of 55% in 2022. This puts the gap between Republicans and Democrats at 47%, the highest it has ever been for that poll question, which Gallup has been asking since 1996.

Overall, 68% of American adults support marriage rights for same-sex couples, regardless of political party affiliation. This percentage has remained relatively stable since 2020, as Republicans and Democrats have drifted in opposite directions on the matter.

Republicans are also more likely to say that same-sex relationships are morally wrong than they have been in recent years. Only 38% of Republicans said that “gay or lesbian relations” are “morally acceptable,” down from a high point of 56% in 2022. Meanwhile, 86% of Democrats said that same-sex relations are morally acceptable, the highest result ever.

Republican legislators in at least nine states have recently pushed measures to end same-sex marriage rights.

In five of the states — Idaho, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota — Republican lawmakers have introduced resolutions calling for the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell. Those measures have been passed by at least one chamber of the state legislature in Idaho and North Dakota.

In the four other states – Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas – Republican legislators have introduced bills to privilege heterosexual marriages, with some of the states referring to a new institution called “covenant marriage,” which would be limited to heterosexual couples. The point there, according to the sponsor of one such bill in Oklahoma, is to create inequality in marriage rights between opposite- and same-sex couples and invite a legal challenge that could be taken to the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell.

Two justices on the Supreme Court have openly stated that they want to overturn Obergefell, and the Court has moved to the right since 2015. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, and Stephen Breyer were all in the Obergefell majority but have either retired or passed away in the last ten years. Only one was replaced by a Democratic president. It is not clear if there are the five votes needed to protect marriage equality on the Court if it were to take up a test case.

Thirty-five states have amendments or statutes banning same-sex marriage, and most would likely go into effect if the Supreme Court were to overturn Obergefell. Because of the 2022 federal Respect for Marriage Act, though, state and federal governments would have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

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Originally published here.

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