This report analyzes over 325 national public opinion surveys dating back to June 1977 that ask the public their opinions on LGBT rights and finds that national trends indicate a rapid and significant increase over the last three decades in public support for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States. On average, public support for marriage equality has more than doubled since the early 2000s, public support for adoption rights for same-sex couples has also doubled to about 63 percent, and about 72 percent of the public currently supports laws protecting lesbians and gay men from job discrimination. This report also analyzes the factors that have contributed to the change in national public opinion on LGBT rights. The data suggests that intergenerational change is less important than it would popularly seem as the shift in favorable public support has come from people of all ages and ideologies in the United States.

Transgender people face an uncertain legal climate, and efforts to include gender identity in policies have been met with both successes and failures. These policies are often developed in the legislative process, which directly involve public opinion. To date, there is only one study analyzing American public attitudes toward transgender people. This research gap makes it unclear whether people in general understand what transgender means and whether public support for transgender rights depends on understanding and knowing transgender people. Since the population of transgender people is estimated to be smaller than that of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, examining whether and how having a friend or family member who is lesbian or gay relates to transgender rights is important to understand political coalitions and attitude change. This study examines public attitudes about transgender rights in the USA. It finds that as respondents report being more informed about transgender people they tend to have more supportive attitudes. Interpersonal contact with someone who is lesbian or gay also leads to a secondary transfer of positive attitudes. About half of the secondary transfer effect operates through a mechanism of attitude generalization: contact positively affects the opinions people have on gay rights that then broaden to affect attitudes on transgender rights. Demographic characteristics also indicate that predictors of transgender attitudes are similar to previous studies regarding attitudes toward lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. Further survey efforts need to consider inquiring about transgender rights and attitudes, as this remains a research gap in need of scholarly understanding.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people reside in practically every geographic region in the United States, with substantial variationregarding what proportion of that region is populated with LGB people. Given this variation, I analyze whether denser LGB congressional districts have an effect on individuals’ views on relationship recognition rightsfor same-sex couples. LGB population density could have two potentialeffects: normalizing contact or contextual threat. I find that as the LGB population density in legislative districts increases, so too does theprobability of individuals supporting relationship rights for same-sexcouples. As the results indicate, context does not increase threat.

Recent polls report majorities of the public supporting marriage recognition for same-sex couples. These reports are not uniform, with some polling organizations still reporting less than a majority in favor. I examine variation in these results using meta-analysis to examine variation among organizations (norg=21) and question wordings (nqw=36) . I also examine direct effects that explain variation based on question framing from 1996 to 2014 (npoll=138) . The results show that after accounting for this variation, a majority of the public supports same-sex marriage in 2014, and any deviations from that estimate can be explained by question framing and organizational “house” effects. The results indicate that questions that focus on the issue of “same-sex marriage” garner less support than questions on legal recognition of marriages for same-sex couples; this finding suggests that framing accounts for why some polls do not report majorities in favor.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people reside in practically every geographic region in the United States, with substantial variation regarding what proportion of that region is populated with LGB people. Given this variation, I analyze whether denser LGB congressional districts have an effect on individuals’ views on relationship recognition rights for same-sex couples. LGB population density could have two potential effects: normalizing contact or contextual threat. I find that as the LGB population density in legislative districts increases, so too does the probability of individuals supporting relationship rights for same-sex couples. As the results indicate, context does not increase threat.

What are the effects of judicial action and policy implementation on attitude change? The previous literature indicates that attitudes may change, but there is some debate about its direction. According to some theories, legislation or litigation should strike a backlash, resulting in greater disapproval of the issue. Other perspectives contend that these acts reflect consensus, legitimate, or polarize the issue. We analyze panel data on attitudes toward same-sex marriage and feelings toward lesbians and gay men. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court made historic decisions on same-sex marriage, and residents in some states had same-sex marriage legalized. Given this variation, we decompose the multiple pathways attitudes change among residents in different policy contexts over time. We find that residents of states that had same-sex marriage policy introduced had the greatest reduction of anti-gay attitudes. We consider consensus and legitimacy as most applicable and provide minimal indication of backlash or polarization.