By ANDREW GARDNER
Observer contributor
April 23, 2008

Americans are increasingly tolerant and accepting of the gay and lesbian lifestyle, a new national opinion poll finds. That’s in spite of an earlier study by Pew Research, a majority of people under 30 viewed homosexuality as a “lifestyle preference” rather than the result of biological factors or a person’s upbringing — a belief commonly attributed to groups who are less open to the gay community.

According to Gregory B. Lewis, a professor of public administration at Georgia State University, the Pew Research data refutes some of the information compiled in recent years about young people and acceptance of gays and lesbians.

“In general, people who think people who are born homosexual are more supportive of gay rights,” he said.

The Pew research “is a true surprise,” according to Karlyn Bowman, of the American Enterprise Institute. Bowman collects data from a number of research firms that show changing trends and attitudes about homosexuality and gay marriage.

It’s a strange dichotomy, considering the growing numbers of people overall who are increasingly accepting of gay and lesbian relationships, said Bowman. It suggests a changing structure where young people may no longer believe that homosexuality must be a genetic characteristic in order for them to accept gay people.

The National Opinion Research Center Survey, conducted over a number of years between 1973 and 2006, asked people whether they saw relations between two people of the same sex as “always wrong,” “almost always wrong,” “only sometimes wrong” or “not wrong.” In 1973, three-quarters of all respondents said that it was always wrong, while only 11 percent said it was not wrong.

Chart by ANDREW GARDNER
National Opinion Research Center survey findings show a trend towards increased acceptance of sexual relations between two people of the same sex.

In 2006, by contrast, more than half of the respondents said relations between two people of the same sex were always wrong and 32 percent said it was not wrong. That’s nearly a threefold increase in people who say it is not wrong and nearly a quarter decrease in numbers of people who say it’s always wrong.

The media has played a large role in the increased acceptance of the gay community, Jody Huckaby, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a nonpartisan non-profit based in Washington, said.

“Culturally, we’ve seen so much of a profile of gay people in the media,” he said. “Exposure breeds acceptance.”

But the 2003 Pew survey seems to refute the growing trend towards acceptance of gays and lesbians in mainstream society, especially when the people who are most supportive of gay rights are more likely to believe that homosexuality is the result of biological factors, according to Lewis.

The study was conducted around the time amendments defining marriage as between a man and woman were springing up in several states and the Supreme Court overturned rulings banning sodomy in several states. It asked a number of questions about homosexuality and choice.

The largest number of people under 30 —half the respondents — said homosexuality is a lifestyle preference. Another quarter said it was something people are born with and 19 percent said it was the result of their upbringing.

Chart by ANDREW GARDNER
A Pew Research Center survey asked interview subjects about homosexuality and choice.

To some researchers, these numbers are puzzling, considering that older age groups, who tend to be more conservative, were more evenly split between “born with” and “lifestyle preference.” Roughly 30 percent of people aged 30 to 49 said that homosexuality was something that people are born with while 43 percent said it was a lifestyle preference.

People between 50 and 64 were almost even, with just more than a third saying it is the result of something people are born with while a nearly equal number responded that it was the result of lifestyle preference. However, as age increased, more people were likely to respond that they “didn’t know” — people 65 and older were more than five times as likely to respond that way.

Celine-Marie Pascale, a professor of sociology at American University who specializes in gender and sexuality said she thought “choice” didn’t necessarily reflect the idea that sexual orientation was a bad thing, however.

“When you walk into a room and see someone and your heart flutters — is that a choice? There’s no clear answer biologically,” she said.

It brings many experts to question the way many Americans view homosexuality, starting with younger generations. Must homosexuality be considered a genetic characteristic for it to be accepted by the mainstream public, and more specifically, the young?

The research hardly reflects what other studies have been saying in recent years, according to Bob Connelly, a professor at American University who specializes in gay and lesbian studies and the media.

“I look at the Pew study as scant,” he said. “I feel that the acceptance of gays and lesbians is greater now among the entire population.”

Lewis’ paper, “Does Believing Homosexuality Is Innate Increase Support for Gay Rights?” dissects the notion that young people must believe that homosexuality is biological to support gay rights.

A compilation of 24 national surveys dating back as far as 1977, Lewis said that while the findings of the Pew survey are surprising, the general trend is towards acceptance, no matter if people view sexuality as an innate characteristic or not.

The research tends to agree with Lewis, according to Ché Tabisola, a program manager in the Center for the Study of Equality at the Human Rights Campaign. Internal surveys and other studies say that younger generations as a whole are most accepting of gays and lesbians, he said.

Lewis’ study also raises another significant factor: young people, in general, are more likely to experiment with other members of the same sex. Therefore, they are more likely to see sexuality (and thusly “lifestyle preference”) as a choice rather than something that people are born with.

“It might be a changing structure,” Lewis said. “The belief that it’s something people are born with may not be something that’s necessary for young people to support gay rights.”

“Young people see sexual orientation as more fluid,” Huckaby said. “How they identify and who they think they are — it’s not set in stone.”

Changing structure or not, few refute the general trend towards increased acceptance of gays and lesbians by the general public.

“Just look at the direction of the graph and it’s a good thing,” Tabisola said. “Mr. and Mrs. America have come so far — and yet have so much farther to go together.”