Support for LGBT rights is increasing around the world, both in terms of laws as well as public opinion. The increase is fastest in the Americas and Western Europe. For example, the fraction of US adults who said same-sex marriage should be accepted rose from 51% in 2007 to 70% in 2017 (pew). This is an extremely rapid shift in public opinion, and has been reflected by an even more rapid shift in legal status: Massachusetts was the first state to recognize same-sex marriage in 2004, and only 12 years later in 2016 the supreme court ruled it legal for all 50 states in ‘Obergefell v. Hodges’. In Europe the story is similar: the UK, France, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Malta, Portugal, and Luxembourg have all recognized same-sex unions in the past decade (note: Belgium, Spain, and Netherlands legalized earlier).

This increase in support is echoed worldwide, albeit at a slower pace. In the plot below, the change in people’s opinions about whether homosexual behavior should be accepted in society is shown across countries. Opinions vary widely, but the trend is slightly positive overall. LGBT Trends

Data is from the Pew Research Center, analyzed with Pandas.

Public opinion almost always changes slowly over time, so these positive trends are promising. In the US, opinions change on a timescale of approximately 1% / yr. This has been true for issues including desegregation, inter-racial marriage, and LGBT rights. Although the worldwide pace of change is only ~0.4% / yr, as long as it remains positive it will eventually result in a better world.

One reason to think that increasing acceptance of LGBT rights is a long-term trend is that decriminalization of homosexual acts has continued worldwide for more than 100 years with few regressions. At present, homosexual acts are legal in the Americas, Europe, and most of Asia, but are still a crime in much of Africa, the middle-east, and south-east Asia.

Date of decriminalization of homosexual acts around the world Decriminalization

The pace of change is slow around the world, but the trends are positive and recent progress on LGBT rights in the Americas and Europe deserves celebration.