US Muslims are more accepting of homosexuality than White evangelicals

Attitudes have been shifting over the last decade

Activists say both communities have suffered discrimination (AP)

But a new survey looking at different faiths’ acceptance of the LGBTQ community has thrown up some interesting results.

It suggests that Muslims in American are more accepting of homosexuality than white evangelical Protestants. Furthermore, their rate of acceptance is moving is increasing faster than those of Protestants.

The research examined attitudes on various issues (Pew Research Centre)

“Most Muslims continue to hold the view that immigrants strengthen the US because of their hard work and talents. And two-thirds say they would prefer to have a larger government that provides more services over a smaller government that provides fewer services,” says the report by the Pew Research Centre.

“There has, however, been one notable change in the social and political views of US Muslims: they have become much more accepting of homosexuality over the past decade, matching a similar shift that has occurred among the public overall.”

It added: "Indeed, the share of Muslim Americans who say homosexuality should be accepted by society has nearly doubled since 2007."

The poll found that 52 per cent of US Muslims say homosexuality should be accepted by society. In contrast, when they were asked in 2016, only 34 percent of white evangelical Protestants felt the same.

Around 52 per cent of Protestants overall said homosexuality was acceptable, along with 66 per cent of Catholics and 63 per cent of the US general public.

Urooj Arshad, an LGBTQ Muslim activist who is a member of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, told the Huffington Post, which first reported on the report, that Muslims’ support for the LGBTQ community might hinge on both sharing the experience of being discriminated against.

“Since September 11, the Muslim community has been dealing with severe erosion of their civil rights which has made the community more sympathetic to violations of civil rights against other marginalised communities in the US,” she said.