A study released by the Pew Hispanic Center on Wednesday found that 59 percent of U.S. Latinos say homosexuality should be accepted by society. Second generation Hispanics go further, with 68 percent of those surveyed saying the same.
The study comes just a week after internal documents from the National Organization of Marriage were made public which revealed NOM's strategy of pitting Latinos against gay equality in order to pass a ban on gay marriage in Maine.
According to a report by The San Francisco Chronicle, the internal documents, "describe a strategy to make opposition to same-sex marriage 'a key badge of Latino identity' and 'a badge of youth rebellion to conformist assimilation to the bad side of Anglo culture."
Furthermore, the documents outlined the strategy to "drive a wedge between gays and blacks - two key Democratic constituencies," and utilize "glamorous, young Latinos and Latinas, especially artists, actors, musicians, athletes, writers and other celebrities willing to stand up for marriage."
But Pew's numbers reveal that NOM might be fighting a losing battle. According to Pew, the percentage of Latinos who support gay equality line up pretty evenly with the general public. Reflecting trends in the non-Latino public, younger Latinos are more likely to be accepting of homosexuality than older Latinos, according to the study.
69 percent of 18-29 year olds and 60 percent of 30-49 year olds say that homosexuality should be accepted by society.
However, for Latinos, where you were born seems to be correlated with your thoughts on the issue, according to the study.
53 percent of foreign-born Latinos in the U.S. say homosexuality should be accepted, where as 68 percent of second generation Latinos say the same. But as Latin American immigration slows, and more Latinos are native born, some believe that the proportion of Latinos born abroad will fall even further in coming years.
HuffPost LatinoVoices blogger Eric Rodriguez wrote that NOM's strategy with Latinos will surely fail.
"Latinos are not foolish enough to believe that NOM has our best interests at heart. And.. despite what NOM may think, the Latino community overwhelmingly supports LGBT equality," Rodriguez wrote.
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CORRECTION: A prior version of this article stated that "69 percent of 18-29 year olds and 60 percent of 30-49 year olds say that gay marriage should be accepted." In actuality, the study found that 69 percent of 18-29 year olds and 60 percent of 30-49 year olds said that homosexuality should be accepted.