Evidence for Hope?: Mississippi Christians’ Views Toward Gay and Lesbian Equality Post Obergefell v. Hodges

Abstract

Despite the legalization of same-sex marriage, gay and lesbian people still lack full rights and equality in the USA. People in the USA who adhere to conservative religion and politics continue to create obstacles to full equality for gay and lesbian citizens. Through semi-structured, qualitative interviews, I provide an exploratory look at the shifting views toward gay and lesbian equality by highlighting the stories of six Mississippi Christians’ over a 6-year period. Overall, the six Mississippi Christians who agreed to participate in a follow-up interview in 2019 all became more accepting of gay and lesbian people and more open to gay and lesbian equality in the USA to various degrees. Continued social contact with gay and lesbian people, along with policy changes in the USA, led to more acceptance of gay and lesbian Americans by southern Christians. Striving to bring conservative Christians along on this journey toward more acceptance and support of gay and lesbian equality is not a futile effort. Christians who are “on-the-fence” are slowly progressing toward more acceptance. While religion may serve as a negative feature that deters the positive benefits of social contact, knowing someone who identifies as gay or lesbian remains a vital component of bringing more moderate Christians to acceptance of gay and lesbian people and rights.