Louisianans overwhelmingly support protections that prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but are split on whether businesses should be allowed to deny services to customers for religious reasons.
The latest and final installment of the 2017 Louisiana Survey explores public opinion on LGBT rights and concerns about religious freedoms and traditional values.
The survey of 1,012 respondents found that 47% of Louisianans support so-called religious-freedom laws that protect the liberty of business operators to conduct activities that align with their personal religious beliefs.
Another 49%, however, believe businesses should be required to provide services to all—regardless of the customer’s sexual orientation.
“The most widely cited examples of this practice involve individuals or businesses that provide wedding services but object to providing these services to same-sex couples,” the report says. “Opponents contend these laws would permit discrimination against LGBT individuals.”
Unsurprisingly, the split among Louisianans falls along partisan lines, with 70% of Louisiana Republicans saying it’s acceptable for business owners to refuse services to same-sex couples on the basis of religion. Meanwhile, 73% of Louisiana Democrats say businesses should be required to serve same-sex couples as they would others.
“Opinion in Louisiana is remarkably similar to opinion across the country,” the report notes. “Like the United States as a whole, Louisianans are split about evenly between those who think businesses should be allowed to refuse services to same-sex couples on religious grounds and those who believe these businesses should be required to provide their services.”
Nationally, 71% of Republicans support business owners exercising their religious liberties and refusing services to same-sex couples, while 67% of Democrats don’t.
Opinion in Louisiana tends to lean conservative, particularly in the area of transgender rights and bathroom usage. A majority of those surveyed—56%—think transgender people should use the public bathroom of the sex they are born into.
“This is particularly true among Democrats. Nationally, a clear majority of Democrats (68 percent) think transgender people should be allowed to use the restroom of the gender with which they currently identify, but in Louisiana only about half of Democrats (51 percent) think so.”
Today’s release is the sixth report in a series on the public’s views on state policy. Previous installments of the 2017 report include Louisianans’ opinions on the Affordable Care Act and the state’s Medicaid expansion; equal pay; their views on taxes and budget cuts; Louisianans’ outlook on the direction of the state; and on criminal justice reform.
The 2017 Louisiana Survey is produced by LSU’s Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs. The survey was conducted from Feb. 23 through March 23 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
—Alexandria Burris
