Republicans’ Retreat From Gay Marriage Truly Threatens It

June marks LGBTQ Pride Month, a time of celebratory parades, parties and rainbow-drenched gatherings all across the country. This month also marks the 10th anniversary of the Obergefell v. Hodges decision — the landmark US Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in every state. That case, which included several same-sex couples — some with children — ushered in an increased acceptance, visibility, and frankly, comfort level among members of the LGBTQ community and their families. In subsequent years, the support for marriage equality ticked up among all groups, most starkly among Republicans who for years ran as defenders of traditional marriage, supporting only unions between one man and one woman.

The trend saw Republican support reach 55% in May of both 2021 and 2022 — a peak, and up from 37% in May 2015 — according to a Gallup poll tracking the party’s alignment with same-sex marriage. But something has shifted in the last few years. As happens with social progress, there has been a concerted and successful backlash to LGBTQ equality, driven by conservatives. Gallup found a clear erosion in support of same-sex marriage among Republicans, with only 41% supporting it today, a 14-point drop in just three years. That decrease dovetails with findings that only 38% of Republicans now say same-sex relations are morally acceptable, down from 56% in 2022.

Overall, 68% of Americans support same-sex marriage, including 88% of Democrats and 76% of independents. The path to that level of acceptance took nearly 30 years — in 1996, when Gallup began tracking, only 27% of US adults approved. But the fight, of course, for LGBTQ equality has stretched far beyond three decades — a struggle marked by courage and persistence. Any sign of backtracking threatens to deny LGBTQ Americans and their families “equal dignity in the eyes of the law,” to quote Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the Obergefell decision.

The downward trend in support should come as no surprise. The war on “woke” specifically targeted LGTBQ people, and not just transgender girls who want to play sports. Gay people, their history, traditions, status and culture have been targeted for erasure, whether in the form of book bans or attacks on drag queen story hour. The Department of Defense erased images that contained “gay” as a keyword in an effort to purge any trace of diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI). Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly plans to strip gay civil rights leader and Navy veteran Harvey Milk’s name from a ship. Companies such as Target Corp, once willing to dedicate parts of their stores to Pride merchandise, began a retreat last year fearful of conservative backlash. And several companies scaled back or declined to renew their sponsorship of Pride events this year, as my colleague Beth Kowitt wrote.