The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement released a survey showing that young Americans have strong levels of support for tolerance and equality toward gays. Majorities say gays and lesbians should be able to form legal civil unions and get legally married, according to a new national survey of 15-25 year olds. And young people overwhelmingly support equal protection when it comes to housing, employment, and hate crimes.
'The breadth of overall support demonstrates that young adults are doing more than showing simple support for fairness and tolerance toward homosexuals,' according to a report on the survey issued by The Council for Excellence in Government and Lake Snell Perry, which conducted the survey. 'For them, these values transcend the realm of gay issues and have become part of their larger view of the way America should look.'
The percentage of young people who support and oppose rights for gays and lesbians are:
Support Oppose
Equal protection in housing 86% 10%
Equal protection in employment 85% 14 %
Protection from hate crimes 85% 13 %
Civil unions or legal partnerships 63% 30 %
Ability to legally marry 56% 39 %
Ability to adopt children 53% 39 %
African American and Latino youth are more supportive of extending equal protections to gays on housing, employment, and hate crimes than whites. Majorities of these young people, although less intense, support civil unions, marriage, and adoption.
Majorities of Republican, conservative, and Born-Again Christian youth also support protections on housing, employment, and hate crimes, although they oppose gay civil unions, marriage, and adoption.
'These results confirm what we've sensed: that America's youth—the undeniable leaders of tomorrow—are increasingly more supportive of some of the most important issues facing the gay community,' said John O'Connor, national director of the Gill Foundation, a funder of the survey. 'We commend CIRCLE and the Council for Excellence in Government for their leadership in including gay issues for the first time in a public policy survey of young people.'