After a steady surge in popularity, public support for gay marriage fell in September, with fully half of the population now saying homosexual behavior “is a sin,” a study said Monday.
In a survey of some 2,000 adults taken Sept. 2-9, Pew Research Center found that 49 percent of Americans now favor gay marriage and 41 percent do not.
However, this marked a five-point dip from a similar poll taken in February, when a record 54 percent of adults supported gay marriage, it said.
“It is too early to know if this modest decline is an anomaly or the beginning of a reversal or leveling off in attitudes toward gay marriage after years of steadily increasing public acceptance,” Pew researchers wrote in a study called “Public Sees Religion’s Influence Waning.”
The new poll also found that 50 percent of adults agreed that “homosexual behavior is a sin” — up from 45 percent in May 2013.
The population continues to be split on whether businesses, like florists and caterers, must provide their services at gay weddings.
Forty-nine percent of adults said businesses should be “required to provide” their services to gay couples, while 47 percent said they should be allowed to refuse for religious reasons.
According to the Pew study, white evangelical Protestants and black Protestants are most likely to see homosexual behavior as sinful, while nonreligious adults are least likely to take that view. Catholics and white mainline Protestants are more evenly divided on the subject.
• Cheryl Wetzstein can be reached at cwetzstein@washingtontimes.com.
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