Attitudes toward same-sex couple parents: A decade of change

Abstract

Objective

Our goal is to track changes in attitudes about same-sex parents in the United States across a 10-year time span between 2012 and 2022.

Background

During this period, there have been transformations in the legal rights of same-sex couples to marry and increased support for same-sex marriage; however, recent increase in hostile state-level policies regarding same-sex couples often center on issues about children.

Method

Drawing on data from the 2012 and 2022 General Social Survey (https://gss.norc.org/), we examine changes in attitudes regarding same-sex parents.

Results

We find significant increases in support for same-sex parents, and this differential persists once accounting for sex, race/ethnicity, education, family background, age, parenthood status, religiosity, political beliefs, urbanicity and region of residence. Although increases in support occurred for all groups, most of the covariates were related to attitudes about same-sex parents in a similar manner in 2012 as 2022.

Conclusion

These findings suggest growth in support for both male and female same-sex parents. New research on how changes in support for same-sex couples and families are linked to specific policies changes is warranted. Underlying value orientations (politics and religiosity) appear to still drive differentials in public opinion.

Implications

This new level of support for same-sex parents may have implications for the enactment of new policies at the local, state and national level that ensure same-sex parent families receive protections from discrimination.