Majority of Latinos now favor gay marriage

10/19/2012 9:00am by 379

A Pew Hispanic Center poll finds that a majority of Latinos now favor marriage equality, 52 to 32 percent.

For the first time since the Pew Hispanic Center began asking the question in its National Survey of Latinos, more Hispanics favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally (52%) than oppose same-sex marriage (34%). This finding reflects the overall trend in the general public toward more support for same-sex marriage, and is in line with the 2011 National Survey of Latinos, in which 59% of Hispanics said that homosexuality should be accepted by society, while 30% said it should be discouraged by society.

This is light and day compared to six years ago, when a majority of Latinos opposed giving same-sex couples the right to marry, 56 to 31 percent.  The chart to right shows just how much things have changed in only six years, which an incredible 18-point leap in support between 2009 and 2012.

Gay rights via Shutterstock

Among the 57 percent of Catholics who make up the Latino electorate, 54 percent favor gay marriage, with a whopping 71 percent of religiously unaffiliated Latinos agreeing.

The Pew poll also spelled out good news for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, with three-quarters of Latino Catholics and eight-in-ten religiously unaffiliated Latinos supporting his bid.

While Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney captured a healthy 39 percent of Latino evangelical Protestants, 50 percent still favored the president.

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Gabe Ortíz is a San Francisco-based writer. He has contributed to the Mission's bilingual newspaper "El Tecolote," and the political blogs AMERICAblog, AMERICAblog Gay, and Veracity Stew. He's also a Stevie Nicks lover and shameless catlady. Follow him on Twitter: @Tusk81.

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