Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS) and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) have partnered to debunk the widespread notion that Latinos are not accepting of the LGBT community. A new report, LGBT Acceptance and Support: The Hispanic Perspective is a comprehensive study that shows Latinos are at least as accepting as the general population when it comes to supporting LGBT issues and laws. SSRS, with funding from the Arcus Foundation, conducted phone interviews to a representative sample of Latinos ages 18 or older from across the nation, and here is what they found:
- Hispanics are as tolerant, if not more tolerant, than the general population. While supporters of gay marriage rank across 53% of the general population, 54% of Hispanics offered their support according to data.
- Hispanics who personally associate with gays or lesbians are more likely to accept gay or lesbian policies. Hispanics who say they know “some” gay and lesbian people have a positive sentiment toward these issues (64%) and support legal adoption (59%) as compared to 52% and 43% of those who know “none”—that is a 16 percentage point increase on the issue of adoption.
- The longer Hispanics live in the U.S., the more tolerant they become.
- Although religion does play a role in acceptance of pro-gay/lesbian beliefs and attitudes, Catholic Hispanics are more accepting than Protestant Hispanics. One substantial finding: 67% of Catholics support legal gay marriage, as compared to 43% of Protestants.
- Puerto Ricans are half as supportive as other Hispanic groups of gay marriage, and men are half as supportive as women.
- Concerns about LGBT acceptance (homophobia) among Hispanics were found to be highly overrated.
“Latinos, like other Americans, have come a long way in acceptance of the LGBT community,” said Eric Rodriguez, Vice President of the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation at NCLR. He noted, however, that there is much work yet to be done within our community.
Although the report does not make any policy recommendations, it does lay out a vivid framework for policymakers to follow when crafting nondiscrimination legislation. Perhaps the strongest message from the report is that, contrary to popular belief, there already exists a sentiment of acceptance—even among the highly traditional Hispanic population.
You can download the report in full here.