A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2016 showed that only 34 percent of white evangelical Protestants believed that homosexuality should be accepted by society. In contrast 52 percent of U.S. Muslims say homosexuality should be accepted by society. The interesting thing is that the rate at which white evangelicals are shifting their views is slower than the rate for Muslims. White evangelicals shifted their views by 11 percentage points between 2006 and 2016. Muslims’ acceptance of homosexuality shot up by 25 percentage points between 2007 and 2017.

A few key groups of U.S. Muslims accept homosexuality differently, the survey shows. Muslim women’s acceptance has increased by 31 percentage points over the last 10 years. College graduates have bumped up 32 points in the same time period. Millennial Muslims are more likely to be accepting of homosexuality (60 percent) than Muslims of older generations.

Urooj Arshad, a member of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, told HuffPost that Muslims’ support for the LGBTQ community may hinge on a common experience that both groups share ― being victims of discrimination. Queer Americans and Muslim Americans have both been harmed in recent years by policies and rhetoric that threaten the safety and wellbeing of their communities. As a result, Arshad said, it isn’t surprising to her that Muslims are beginning to accept homosexuality.

Mariam Durrani, an anthropologist at Hamilton College who studies Muslim American, said: “As part of a marginalized and discriminated population, Muslim youth are more likely to adopt solidarity positions with other marginalized and discriminated communities.”

Evangelical Protestants are the largest religious group in America, making up a little more than a quarter of all Americans. With the election of President Donald Trump, evangelical leaders have gained a significant foothold in the White House. Pew surveys have found that half of white evangelicals believe there is a “great deal” or “fair amount” of support for extremism among Muslims living in the U.S. They tend to believe that Islam encourages violence (63 percent) and that there is a natural conflict between Islam and democracy (72 percent) versus 63 percent of American adults who support same-sex marriage, only 34 percent of white evangelical Protestants say the same.

Brian McLaren, a progressive Christian author from a conservative evangelical background, claims that such statistics confirm that white evangelicals are distinguishing themselves as the “most change-resistant demographic in America.” The problem is that it’s not always a positive feature for someone to be resistant to changes in today's dynamic and progressive world.

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