Is Homosexuality Morally Acceptable?

The results of a recent Gallup poll suggest it depends on who you ask.

The dividing line between poll participants was equally drawn. Forty-eight percent said they believed homosexual relations were morally wrong and 48 percent also said they believed homosexual relations were morally acceptable.

But how have the percentages changed over the years to reflect society's acceptance, or lack thereof, of the gay community?

Since 2001 the percentages on either side of the division haven't changed much. Those who believe homosexuality is morally wrong have declined a bit - from 58 percent in 2001 to the present 48 percent. Those who believe homosexuality to be morally acceptable have only increased eight percent, up from 40 percent, since 2001.

Courtesy of the 2003 Supreme Court decision to dispose of an antiquated Texas sodomy law, poll data from that years shows that participants in favor of the legalization of homosexual relations was at an all-time high of 60 percent. By 2007, that number had only declined to 55 percent. The percentages on the legality of homosexuality have remained on a fairly even keel over the years. Data from a poll conducted in 1977 reported that 43 percent of participants believed homosexual relations should be legal and an equal amount reported they should not.

The other three issues in the poll regarding homosexuality - gay marriage, equality in the workplace, and the acceptance of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle - reported the biggest divides in participants' responses. In 1983, 51 percent of poll participants said that homosexuality was not an acceptable alternative lifestyle. That number had decreased to 40 percent as of 2007. Thirty-four percent of participants in the 1983 data said homosexuality was an acceptable lifestyle and that number had increased to 57 percent in 2007. Eighty-nine participants in the 2008 poll said gays should have equal opportunities in the workplace, up from 56 percent in 1978. The current divide on same sex marriage stands at 56 percent who say the unions should be valid and 40 percent who say they should not.

The 2008 findings stemmed from Gallup's Values and Beliefs poll that was conducted in May of 2008. The purpose of the poll was to gauge America's beliefs in the morality of specific social and cultural issues. The issues on which the participants were polled were:

Divorce

Gambling

The death penalty

Stem cell research

Sex between unmarried men and women

Having a baby out of wedlock

Medical testing on animals

Using animal fur in manufactured clothing

Doctor assisted suicide

Homosexuality

Abortion

Cloning animals

Cloning humans

Polygamy

Extramarital affairs

Where homosexuality placed on the morality scale compared to some of these issues was shocking. As previously stated, only 48 percent of poll participants found homosexual relations to be morally acceptable. Fifty-five percent of participants polled said that having a baby out of wedlock was morally acceptable. This comparison implies that far more participants believe that having a baby out of wedlock, single motherhood, which is becoming an epidemic in this country - especially in the teen sector - is more socially acceptable than a committed gay couple raising a child together. Additionally, 61 percent of participants said that sex between unmarried heterosexual men and women was morally acceptable. This information lends itself to the interpretation that the majority of society believes that having multiple sexual partners, promiscuity - another action that's becoming an epidemic on many fronts, including the transmission of STDs - is more socially acceptable than a gay couple in a committed relationship.

The most morally acceptable issue on the poll was divorce - with a staggering 70 percent saying that they believe it to be morally acceptable. This finding is a triple whammy for the gay community, as it could be interpreted that heterosexual people bailing out of marriages for whatever reason, putting the divorce rate at 50 percent in this country - are more socially acceptable than gay people, gay people in committed relationships, or a gay couple's marriage.

These findings were unsettling, to say the least, to some gay and lesbian non-poll participants. Their common complaint was that society only sees the woman/woman - man/man sexual aspect of their relationships and fail to see how, regardless of gender and/or sexual preference, they are real people in real relationships facing the same trials and enjoying the same things that people in heterosexual relationships do.

Monica Gonzales of San Antonio, Texas has lived with her partner in a committed relationship for years now and shares the same sentiments.

"Homosexual relationships face the same daily trials and tribulations that heterosexual couples do; we work hard at our jobs, we love coming home to each other (most of the time), we argue about finances, one of us is always nagging the other one about chores to do around the house, we fight over the remote control, we plan vacations together, we talk about retiring and traveling the world together, we get pissed over who took the last piece of pie left over in the fridge; and we dream of growing old together. Some of us dream of having children to love and make steps to adopt, foster, or have children to raise as productive members of society. Aside from that one little part of our lives, what we do in bed, in the privacy of our own home, we're just like every other couple out there," Monica said.

Monica believes one more pressing question should have been included in this poll and many in the homosexual community will agree:

"What makes heterosexual couples special enough that their private sex lives can be overlooked and ours can't?"