Christian Nationalism and LGBTQ Rights
Christian Nationalism and LGBTQ Rights
Christian nationalism and LGBTQ rights intersect in debates over religion, national identity, marriage, sexuality, gender, civil rights, and the constitutional limits of government. Research surveyed in this collection generally describes Christian nationalism not simply as religious belief or ordinary Christian political participation, but as a set of beliefs connecting Christianity with national identity and government authority.
The relationship is not uniform. Scholars distinguish different forms and dimensions of Christian nationalism, and Christians themselves hold widely differing positions on LGBTQ rights. Nevertheless, multiple academic studies and national surveys have found a substantial association between stronger Christian-nationalist identification and lower support for several LGBTQ-rights policies.
The resulting political and legal disputes extend beyond a simple conflict between Christianity and LGBTQ people. They involve questions about same-sex marriage, employment discrimination, transgender policy, public accommodations, religious exemptions, compelled speech, institutional autonomy, parental authority, and the extent to which government may promote specifically Christian moral norms.
Christian Nationalism and Attitudes Toward LGBTQ Rights
Academic research has repeatedly examined whether Christian nationalism predicts attitudes toward homosexuality, same-sex marriage, gender roles, and LGBTQ political participation.
One of the earlier empirical studies, Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry's A More Perfect Union? Christian Nationalism and Support for Same-sex Unions, found an independent relationship between Christian-nationalist beliefs and lower support for same-sex marriage and civil unions. Their later research connected Christian nationalism with traditional understandings of gender, family hierarchy, heterosexuality, and national identity.
Brooklyn Walker's research on LGBTQ political candidates found Christian-nationalist attitudes associated with reduced willingness to support openly gay, lesbian, and transgender candidates. Later research by Walker and Paul Djupe found that Christian nationalism can also be present among lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans themselves, indicating that sexual orientation alone does not determine views about Christian nationalism.
Other scholars have emphasized that Christian nationalism should not be treated as a completely uniform ideology. Research distinguishes religious traditionalism, political or governmental authority, national identity, race, gender, and other dimensions that may operate differently in different populations.
Public Opinion and the Christian Nationalism Divide
PRRI's American Values Atlas provides some of the most extensive survey data connecting Christian nationalism with LGBTQ policy attitudes.
PRRI separates respondents into four groups based on answers to questions measuring Christian-nationalist beliefs: Rejecters, Skeptics, Sympathizers, and Adherents. Across successive surveys, these categories have shown large differences concerning LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, same-sex marriage, religiously based service refusals, and transgender policy.
The pattern is generally consistent: Rejecters are the most supportive of LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections and same-sex marriage, while Adherents are substantially less supportive. Skeptics and Sympathizers fall between the two groups.
PRRI's 2025 American Values Atlas, published in 2026, reported that 91 percent of Christian-nationalism Rejecters supported LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, compared with 77 percent of Skeptics, 61 percent of Sympathizers, and 42 percent of Adherents. Support for same-sex marriage showed a similarly large difference, ranging from 93 percent among Rejecters to 22 percent among Adherents.
Religiously based service refusals produce another significant division. Americans who reject Christian nationalism are considerably more likely to oppose allowing businesses to deny services to LGBTQ customers on religious grounds than Americans classified as Christian-nationalism Adherents.
PRRI also reports differences regarding transgender rights. Its 2025 data found that 92 percent of Rejecters agreed that transgender people deserve the same rights and protections as other Americans, compared with 40 percent of Adherents.
These relationships do not mean that every Christian nationalist holds the same position or that religious affiliation alone determines attitudes toward LGBTQ issues. Pew Research Center and PRRI surveys both show substantial variation among Christian traditions and among individual believers.
LGBTQ Americans and Christian Nationalism
Survey evidence also provides information about how LGBTQ Americans themselves relate to Christian nationalism.
PRRI's 2024 American Values Atlas found that LGBTQ Americans were considerably more likely than Americans overall to fall into its Christian-nationalism Rejecter category. In that survey, 56 percent of LGBTQ respondents were classified as Rejecters, compared with 29 percent of Americans overall.
LGBTQ Americans were also more likely to identify as religiously unaffiliated and less likely to identify with white Christian traditions than the population as a whole. At the same time, LGBTQ Americans are religiously diverse, and some identify with Christian-nationalist beliefs.
This complicates attempts to portray the issue as a simple division between Christians and LGBTQ Americans. Religious identity, sexual orientation, political ideology, denominational affiliation, race, and views about church and state overlap in different ways.
Same-Sex Marriage
Same-sex marriage has been one of the central areas where LGBTQ rights and conservative Christian politics have intersected.
For many religious conservatives, marriage is understood as an institution established by God and limited to the union of a man and a woman. Organizations and individuals holding this position have argued that government recognition of same-sex marriage can create conflicts involving religious institutions, religious employers, adoption agencies, schools, and wedding-related businesses.
Supporters of marriage equality have argued that civil marriage is a legal institution that should be available equally regardless of sexual orientation and that religious organizations remain free to determine which marriages they recognize or solemnize.
The constitutional landscape changed significantly with Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, when the Supreme Court held that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry and that states must recognize lawful same-sex marriages.
Congress later enacted the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022. The legislation established federal recognition protections for same-sex and interracial marriages while also including protections affecting religious organizations.
The Act illustrated an effort by lawmakers and religious-liberty scholars to accommodate both legal recognition of same-sex marriages and some concerns of religious organizations opposed to those marriages.
Employment Discrimination and Bostock v. Clayton County
Employment discrimination became another major area of LGBTQ constitutional and statutory development.
In Bostock v. Clayton County in 2020, the Supreme Court held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from firing an employee merely for being gay or transgender because discrimination on those grounds necessarily involves discrimination because of sex.
The ruling significantly expanded federal employment protections for gay and transgender workers.
At the same time, it did not resolve every conflict between employment nondiscrimination rules and religious-liberty protections. Religious organizations may raise separate constitutional or statutory defenses in some circumstances, leaving continuing disputes concerning the boundaries between employment protections and religious institutional autonomy.
Public Accommodations and Religious Objections
Some of the most visible conflicts have involved Christian business owners who object to providing expressive services connected with same-sex weddings.
These disputes have involved bakers, photographers, florists, website designers, and other businesses whose owners argue that providing particular wedding-related services can require them to express or participate in messages contrary to their religious beliefs.
LGBTQ-rights advocates generally distinguish between private religious belief and commercial conduct, arguing that businesses open to the public should ordinarily comply with nondiscrimination laws protecting customers.
Religious-liberty advocates respond that the government should not compel individuals to create speech or artistic expression celebrating ideas they reject.
The Supreme Court has addressed versions of this dispute in several cases without resolving every possible conflict.
Masterpiece Cakeshop
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission involved a Colorado baker who declined to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of his religious beliefs about marriage.
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the baker on relatively narrow grounds. The Court concluded that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had failed to treat his religious objections with the neutrality required by the Free Exercise Clause.
Because the decision focused on the government's treatment of the baker's religious beliefs, it did not create a general constitutional right for businesses to disregard LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws.
Consequently, many broader questions concerning expressive services, religious objections, and public-accommodation laws remained unresolved.
303 Creative v. Elenis
The Supreme Court returned to the issue in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis.
The case involved Colorado website designer Lorie Smith, who wanted to create wedding websites but objected on religious grounds to creating websites celebrating same-sex marriages.
In 2023, the Supreme Court held that Colorado could not use its public-accommodation law to compel Smith to create expressive wedding websites conveying messages she did not wish to express. The majority based its ruling on the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
The decision was therefore centered on compelled expressive activity rather than establishing a general religious exemption allowing businesses to refuse LGBTQ customers.
The dissent viewed the case differently, arguing that the ruling weakened the ability of public-accommodation laws to guarantee equal access to goods and services for members of protected groups.
The disagreement illustrates a fundamental constitutional tension: when does regulation of commercial conduct become government-compelled speech, and when does protection for expressive freedom become an exemption from generally applicable civil-rights protections?
Religious Liberty
Religious liberty is central to many debates involving Christian nationalism and LGBTQ rights, although religious-liberty arguments are not synonymous with Christian nationalism.
Conservative religious organizations argue that people should not be forced to express messages contrary to their beliefs and that churches, religious schools, ministries, adoption agencies, and other religious organizations require meaningful institutional autonomy.
From this perspective, disputes involving wedding vendors, religious employers, adoption agencies, and gender-identity policies can involve constitutionally protected religious exercise or speech rather than simply opposition to LGBTQ people.
LGBTQ-rights organizations generally accept that churches have broad authority over doctrine and worship but argue that religious freedom should not automatically permit businesses or government-funded organizations to deny otherwise available services or legal protections to LGBTQ people.
The boundary between those principles remains contested.
Transgender Rights and Gender Policy
Recent disputes increasingly concern gender identity as well as sexual orientation.
The research collection includes debates involving transgender health care, bathroom policies, education, parental authority, employment, discrimination protections, and government recognition of gender identity.
Christian-nationalist and religious-conservative organizations frequently frame these policies in terms of biological sex, parental authority, protection of children, institutional religious freedom, and limits on government power.
LGBTQ-rights organizations generally frame the same disputes around equal treatment, access to health care, personal autonomy, protection from discrimination, and recognition of transgender people.
Public-opinion evidence suggests that Americans may respond differently to transgender-policy questions than to same-sex marriage or general LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections. Christian-nationalist identification nevertheless remains strongly associated with differences in views on these questions in PRRI surveys.
Christian Nationalism Is Not Identical to Christianity
An important theme throughout the research is the need to distinguish Christian nationalism from Christianity itself.
Many Christians oppose Christian nationalism on theological as well as constitutional grounds. Christians Against Christian Nationalism, associated with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, argues that Christianity should not be merged with American national identity or privileged through government power.
Other Christian leaders support LGBTQ inclusion and view religious pluralism and equal citizenship as compatible with Christian theology.
Still other Christians hold traditional beliefs about marriage and sexuality while rejecting Christian nationalism or government establishment of Christianity.
Consequently, opposition to same-sex marriage or particular transgender policies does not by itself establish that an individual is a Christian nationalist. Likewise, Christian political participation is not automatically Christian nationalism.
Researchers therefore generally rely on broader measures involving beliefs about Christianity, government, national identity, political authority, and the proper relationship between church and state.
Race, Gender, and National Identity
The literature also places LGBTQ politics within broader research concerning race, gender, masculinity, family structure, and American identity.
Some scholars describe Christian nationalism as an in-group-protection ideology that can define who is understood to represent the nation's traditional cultural core.
Research has connected stronger Christian-nationalist beliefs with traditionalist gender ideology, patriarchal family structures, and particular understandings of masculinity and femininity.
The relationship between Christian nationalism, race, sexuality, and gender is nevertheless complex. Different dimensions of Christian nationalism may operate differently depending on the social group or political issue being studied.
This has led some scholars to caution against using Christian nationalism as a catch-all explanation for every form of conservative Christian politics.
Political Advocacy and LGBTQ Rights
Christian nationalism has increasingly appeared in disputes over education, family policy, transgender health care, federal civil-rights enforcement, religious exemptions, and government recognition of LGBTQ identities.
LGBTQ advocacy organizations, civil-rights groups, and organizations studying political extremism have argued that some Christian-nationalist networks overlap with campaigns seeking restrictions on LGBTQ rights.
Conservative Christian organizations often reject descriptions of their advocacy as hostility toward LGBTQ people and instead characterize their activities as efforts to protect religious freedom, parental authority, traditional understandings of marriage and sex, freedom of speech, or limits on government authority.
These competing frameworks are important when evaluating sources. Advocacy organizations on both sides frequently interpret the same policy disputes through substantially different moral and constitutional assumptions.
International and Comparative Context
Although much of the literature focuses on the United States, the interaction between religious nationalism and LGBTQ politics is not uniquely American.
Research on Ghana, for example, examines relationships among Christian political activism, national identity, religious institutions, and proposals restricting LGBTQ rights.
International comparisons also show wide variation in the legal recognition of same-sex relationships and in the political role of religion.
These comparisons suggest that Christian nationalism operates differently depending on constitutional structures, denominational histories, religious demographics, colonial histories, and political institutions.
A Continuing Constitutional Debate
The legal disputes surrounding LGBTQ rights demonstrate that several constitutional principles can operate simultaneously.
The Constitution protects freedom of speech and religious exercise while federal and state governments maintain civil-rights laws intended to prevent discrimination.
Cases such as Masterpiece Cakeshop, Fulton, and 303 Creative examine circumstances in which those principles may conflict.
The Supreme Court has sometimes resolved these cases narrowly, leaving broader questions unanswered. Future controversies are likely to continue addressing distinctions among ordinary commercial conduct, expressive activity, religious institutions, government contracting, employment, and public accommodations.
Conclusion
The relationship between Christian nationalism and LGBTQ rights is multidimensional. Academic research and public-opinion surveys consistently identify an association between stronger Christian-nationalist beliefs and lower support for several LGBTQ-rights policies, particularly same-sex marriage, nondiscrimination protections, and some transgender-rights measures.
At the same time, neither Christianity nor Christian political participation is synonymous with Christian nationalism. Christians disagree substantially about LGBTQ rights, religious liberty, pluralism, and the proper relationship between religion and government.
The legal debate is similarly more complicated than a choice between religious freedom and LGBTQ equality. Supreme Court cases have distinguished among religious exercise, compelled speech, public accommodations, employment discrimination, government contracting, and institutional religious autonomy.
Christian nationalism adds another dimension to these disputes because it concerns not only personal religious belief but also the place Christianity should occupy within American national identity and government.
The continuing debate therefore concerns several overlapping questions: whether government should privilege Christian moral principles, how broadly civil-rights protections should apply, when religious or expressive exemptions are constitutionally required, and how a religiously diverse democratic society should balance freedom of conscience with equal citizenship.
Christian Nationalism and LGBTQ Rights: Direct Research
1. [The Weakness of Anti-Christian Nationalism: When Religiously Inclusive Orientations Can’t Increase Tolerance | Paul A. Djupe and Brooklyn Walker | Politics and Religion | March 26, 2026]
Tests whether explicitly pluralistic religious ideas counteract Christian-nationalist attitudes. The findings illustrate the complexity of ideological commitments surrounding tolerance and national identity.
2. [Religion Is Sometimes Raced: Christian Nationalism as In-Group Protection | Paul A. Djupe and colleagues | Perspectives on Politics | 2025]
Examines Christian nationalism as an in-group-protection framework and discusses how its relationship with race differs from its relationship with sexuality, gender, and partisan identity.
3. [The Varieties of American Christian Nationalism | Nilay Saiya | Politics and Religion | May 13, 2025]
Proposes multiple forms of American Christian nationalism and reviews differences within the phenomenon rather than treating all Christian-nationalist beliefs as identical.
4. [Jesus and John Wayne Wannabes: How Christian Nationalism and Femininity Shape Extreme Politics Among Men in the US | Paul A. Djupe and Brooklyn Walker | Sociology of Religion | March 8, 2025]
Examines relationships among Christian nationalism, gender identity, gender attitudes, political extremism, and masculinity.
5. [Christian Nationalism is Unbounded by LGB Identity | Brooklyn Walker and Paul A. Djupe | Political Research Quarterly / SAGE | February 14, 2025]
Examines Christian nationalism among lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans themselves. Using multiple datasets from 2017–2023, the authors find that Christian-nationalist identification is associated with opposition to same-sex marriage and some anti-discrimination protections even among LGB respondents.
6. [The Duality of American Christian Nationalism: Religious Traditionalism versus Christian Statism | X. Li and colleagues | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | 2023]
Argues that Christian nationalism contains distinguishable religious-traditionalist and statist dimensions. The article is useful for avoiding an overly monolithic definition of Christian nationalism.
7. [Christian Nationalism: A Stained-Glass Ceiling for LGBT Candidates? | Brooklyn Walker | Politics, Groups, and Identities | 2022]
Investigates whether Christian-nationalist attitudes affect willingness to support openly lesbian, gay, or transgender political candidates. The study reports an association between Christian nationalism and opposition to both gay/lesbian and transgender candidates.
8. [Order | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | Taking America Back for God / Oxford University Press | March 19, 2020]
Examines Christian nationalism's relationship with family hierarchy, patriarchy, heterosexuality, cisgender identity, divorce, and same-sex marriage.
9. [Is a “Christian America” a More Patriarchal America? Religion, Politics, and Traditionalist Gender Ideology | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | Canadian Review of Sociology | April 30, 2019]
Studies Christian nationalism and traditionalist gender ideology, providing background for understanding conflicts involving gender roles and LGBTQ identities.
10. [A More Perfect Union? Christian Nationalism and Support for Same-sex Unions | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | Sociological Perspectives | April 6, 2015]
One of the foundational empirical studies directly connecting Christian nationalism with attitudes toward same-sex marriage and civil unions. It finds Christian nationalism independently associated with lower support for both.
PRRI: Christian Nationalism and LGBTQ Public Opinion
11. [Mapping Support for LGBTQ Rights Across the 50 States: Insights from PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas | PRRI | March 2026]
Provides state-level data on LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws, same-sex marriage, religiously based service refusals, religious affiliation, and Christian nationalism.
12. [Religious Affiliation and Christian Nationalism Groups Among LGBTQ Americans | PRRI American Values Atlas | 2025]
Finds LGBTQ Americans considerably more likely than Americans overall to fall into PRRI's Christian-nationalism Rejecter category.
13. [Faith, Freedom, and the Future of LGBTQ Rights in America | Chana Etengoff, Landon Schnabel and Joanna Wuest | PRRI | September 3, 2025]
Explores religiously based service refusals, attitudes toward transgender health care, and differences between public attitudes toward sexual and gender diversity.
14. [Rethinking the Religion Gap on LGBTQ Rights | Youssef Chouhoud | PRRI | August 27, 2025]
Shows that religion's relationship with LGBTQ policy attitudes varies depending on the specific religious measure and the particular LGBTQ policy being examined.
15. [LGBTQ Rights Across All 50 States: Key Insights from PRRI’s 2024 American Values Atlas | PRRI | March 2025]
Includes detailed comparisons among Christian-nationalism Rejecters, Skeptics, Sympathizers, and Adherents on LGBTQ policies.
16. [The Relationship Between Christian Nationalism and Support for LGBTQ Rights | PRRI | 2024]
A focused section of PRRI's American Values Atlas showing large differences in LGBTQ-policy attitudes across the Christian-nationalism scale.
17. [LGBTQ Rights vs. Religious Liberty Cases: Public Opinion and the Law | Andrew R. Flores, Joanna Wuest, Kelsy Burke and Suzanna Krivulskaya | PRRI | September 19, 2024]
Examines public responses to conflicts involving LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections and religious-liberty claims, including the effects of the 303 Creative decision.
18. [Views on LGBTQ Rights in All 50 States: Findings from PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas | PRRI | March 12, 2024]
Includes a dedicated analysis of the relationship between Christian nationalism and attitudes toward LGBTQ nondiscrimination, same-sex marriage, and religious exemptions.
19. [More Acceptance but Growing Polarization on LGBTQ Rights: Findings From the 2022 American Values Atlas | PRRI | 2023]
Shows substantial differences between Christian-nationalism Adherents, Sympathizers, Skeptics, and Rejecters regarding LGBTQ rights.
20. [Clergy and Congregations in a Time of Transformation | PRRI | 2023]
Surveys mainline Protestant clergy on LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, service refusals, Christian nationalism, religious pluralism, and other political issues.
Pew Research Center and Broader Religion Data
21. [What Political Issues Do Americans Hear About in Church? | Pew Research Center | May 27, 2026]
Surveys regular worship attendees about political and social messages heard from clergy, including messages concerning homosexuality.
22. [How Americans Feel About Religion’s Influence in Government and Public Life | Chip Rotolo and Gregory A. Smith | Pew Research Center | May 14, 2026]
Measures Christian nationalism, church-state separation, biblical influence on laws, official-Christian-nation proposals, and partisan and religious differences.
23. [Same-Sex Marriage Around the World | Pew Research Center | June 2, 2025]
Provides international historical context for legal recognition of same-sex marriage and allows comparison of the U.S. debate with developments elsewhere.
24. [Religion and Views on LGBTQ Issues and Abortion | Gregory A. Smith et al. | Pew Research Center | February 26, 2025]
Examines homosexuality, same-sex marriage, transgender acceptance, abortion, and differences among American religious traditions.
25. [Christianity’s Place in Politics, and “Christian Nationalism” | Chip Rotolo, Gregory A. Smith and Jonathan Evans | Pew Research Center | March 15, 2024]
Examines attitudes toward government promotion of Christian values, declaring Christianity an official religion, biblical influence on law, and awareness of Christian nationalism.
26. [Religion and Politics in South and Southeast Asia | Pew Research Center | September 12, 2023]
Provides comparative international data on religion, politics, and same-sex marriage that helps place American religious-nationalist debates in a broader context.
27. [In Their Own Words: How Americans Describe “Christian Nationalism” | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022]
Records Americans' own definitions of Christian nationalism, including responses concerning LGBTQ people, government, religion, race, and national identity.
28. [Faith and Flag Conservatives | Pew Research Center | November 9, 2021]
Profiles a highly religious conservative political grouping and includes data on same-sex marriage, religion in public life, national identity, and partisan attitudes.
29. [Gender, Sexuality and Black Religion | Pew Research Center | February 16, 2021]
Examines homosexuality and same-sex marriage among Black Protestants, Catholics, unaffiliated Americans, and other groups.
30. [Views on Homosexuality, Gender and Religion | Pew Research Center | October 5, 2017]
Studies the relationship between religion, government policy, homosexuality, and gender attitudes.
Supreme Court Foundations of LGBTQ Rights
31. [303 Creative LLC v. Elenis — Supreme Court Docket | U.S. Supreme Court | 2021–2023]
Contains petitions, briefs, amicus filings, procedural history, oral argument information, and the Court's final disposition.
32. [303 Creative LLC v. Elenis | U.S. Supreme Court | June 30, 2023]
Held that Colorado could not compel a website designer to create expressive wedding designs conveying a message she opposed, grounding the decision in the Free Speech Clause.
33. [303 Creative LLC v. Elenis — Sotomayor Dissent | U.S. Supreme Court | June 30, 2023]
Argues that the decision weakens the ability of public-accommodation laws to guarantee equal access for LGBTQ customers.
34. [303 Creative LLC v. Elenis — Oral Argument Transcript and Audio | U.S. Supreme Court | December 5, 2022]
Provides the justices' and attorneys' arguments concerning expressive businesses, same-sex weddings, discrimination law, and compelled speech.
35. [Fulton v. City of Philadelphia | U.S. Supreme Court | June 17, 2021]
Concerned Philadelphia's relationship with a Catholic foster-care agency that would not certify same-sex couples as foster parents and addressed Free Exercise Clause protections.
36. [Bostock v. Clayton County | U.S. Supreme Court | June 15, 2020]
Held that Title VII's prohibition on employment discrimination because of sex covers employees fired for being gay or transgender.
37. [Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission | U.S. Supreme Court | June 4, 2018]
Addressed a Christian baker's refusal to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The Court ruled narrowly on religious-neutrality grounds rather than establishing a broad exemption from nondiscrimination law.
38. [Obergefell v. Hodges | U.S. Supreme Court | June 26, 2015]
Held that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry and that states must recognize lawful same-sex marriages.
39. [United States v. Windsor | U.S. Supreme Court | June 26, 2013]
Invalidated the federal Defense of Marriage Act's restriction of federal marriage recognition to opposite-sex couples.
40. [Lawrence v. Texas | U.S. Supreme Court | June 26, 2003]
Struck down a Texas statute criminalizing consensual same-sex intimate conduct, establishing an important constitutional foundation for later LGBTQ-rights decisions.
Legal Analysis and Civil-Liberties Perspectives
41. [Significant Supreme Court Cases in the 2022–2023 Term: 303 Creative | National Constitution Center | 2023]
Summarizes the constitutional question and the Court's ruling protecting expressive activity from compelled speech.
42. [303 Creative LLC v. Elenis | Steven D. Schwinn | American Bar Association | 2022]
Provides a neutral case preview explaining the tension between compelled-speech doctrine and Colorado's sexual-orientation nondiscrimination law.
43. [What’s at Stake in 303 Creative | Donald Verrilli | American Bar Association | 2022]
Argues that a broad expressive-business exemption could weaken public-accommodation protections for LGBTQ people and potentially other protected groups.
44. [Revisiting Masterpiece Cakeshop — Free Speech and the First Amendment | Terri R. Day | Hofstra Law Review | 2019]
Explores possible legislative compromises between LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections and First Amendment objections involving expressive wedding services.
45. [Analysis: Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission | Timothy R. Holbrook | Emory University School of Law | June 20, 2018]
Explains why the Supreme Court's ruling left many underlying religious-liberty and LGBTQ-rights questions unresolved.
46. [Not a Masterpiece: The Supreme Court’s Decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop | Erwin Chemerinsky | American Bar Association | 2018]
Explains why the narrow Masterpiece decision did not settle the broader constitutional dispute between nondiscrimination laws and religious or expressive objections.
47. [Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission | ACLU | 2018]
Presents the LGBTQ-rights plaintiffs' argument that businesses generally should not be allowed to deny protected customers equal service.
48. [Masterpiece Cakeshop | ACLU of Colorado | 2018]
Provides the litigation history and Colorado civil-rights-law background to the bakery dispute.
49. [Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission | National Center for Lesbian Rights | 2018]
Reviews the case from an LGBTQ civil-rights perspective and includes legal filings.
50. [The Masterpiece Cakeshop Case: Views of NYU Law Faculty | NYU School of Law | 2017]
Presents legal analysis of the collision among public-accommodation law, free speech, religion, and LGBTQ equality.
Religious-Liberty and Conservative Legal Perspectives
51. [Jack Phillips’s Story | Alliance Defending Freedom | updated 2026]
Presents the Masterpiece Cakeshop owner's religious and free-speech arguments concerning wedding-related services.
52. [Create Freely: The Story Behind the Artists Who Fought for Free Speech | Alliance Defending Freedom | September 16, 2024; revised April 10, 2026]
Places 303 Creative within a broader series of disputes involving photographers, bakers, florists, and other expressive businesses.
53. [Chelsey Nelson Photography Explainer | Alliance Defending Freedom | revised March 24, 2026]
Discusses litigation involving a Christian photographer who objected to creating expressive material celebrating same-sex weddings.
54. [Lorie Smith’s Story | Alliance Defending Freedom | May 6, 2023; revised July 3, 2024]
Gives the 303 Creative plaintiff's account of her Christian beliefs, business practices, and objections to creating same-sex wedding websites.
55. [303 Creative v. Elenis | Becket Fund for Religious Liberty | 2023]
Presents Becket's argument that religiously motivated expressive speech receives full First Amendment protection.
56. [303 Creative v. Elenis | Alliance Defending Freedom | 2023]
Provides the legal organization's case page and its argument distinguishing refusal to express a message from refusal to serve a class of customers.
57. [Supreme Court Protects Religious Business Owner’s Speech | Becket Fund | June 30, 2023]
Presents Becket's interpretation of the 303 Creative decision as protecting religious expression and freedom from compelled speech.
58. [Religious Speech to Have Its Day at the Supreme Court | Becket Fund | December 2, 2022]
Explains the religious-liberty argument presented before oral argument in 303 Creative.
59. [Colorado Designer Asks Appeals Court to Halt Law That Forces Her to Promote Same-Sex Weddings | Alliance Defending Freedom | September 28, 2017]
Documents an early stage of the litigation that ultimately became 303 Creative v. Elenis.
60. [Drawing the Line: Colorado Artist Files Suit | Alliance Defending Freedom | September 20, 2016]
Describes the original constitutional lawsuit challenging Colorado's application of its public-accommodation law.
Competing Conservative and Religious Perspectives
61. [Obergefell and Religious Liberty | Various legal scholars | legal commentary following Obergefell | 2015–present]
Examines the continuing debate over how same-sex-marriage rights interact with religious institutions and religious objectors.
62. [Gender Ideology Threatens Religious Freedom and Endangers Children | Heritage Foundation | 2025]
Presents a conservative argument that gender-identity policies can conflict with religious freedom, parental authority, and institutional autonomy.
63. [Americans Can’t Be Forced to Abandon Constitutional Rights to Operate a Business | Heritage Foundation | June 30, 2023]
Praises the 303 Creative decision as a protection against government-compelled expression.
64. [What Happened at the Supreme Court Last Week? — 303 Creative | Heritage Foundation | 2023]
Explains the conservative legal interpretation distinguishing expressive services from ordinary commercial transactions.
65. [What Houses of Worship and People of Faith Need to Know About the Respect for Marriage Act | Center for Public Justice | December 13, 2022]
Explains the Act from an organization that maintains a traditional Christian definition of marriage while supporting statutory religious-liberty safeguards.
66. [How Faith Leaders Reacted to Senate Passage of Same-Sex Marriage Protections | Kelsey Dallas | Deseret News | November 29, 2022]
Surveys differing religious reactions to the Respect for Marriage Act, including both supporters and critics concerned about religious liberty.
67. [The Respect for Marriage Act Can Be a Vehicle for Protecting Religious Freedom | Hal Boyd | Deseret News | November 28, 2022]
Makes the case that federal recognition of same-sex marriage can coexist with protections for traditional religious beliefs.
68. [The Respect for Marriage Act Shows That Compromise Is the Way Forward | Douglas Laycock | Deseret News | November 21, 2022]
A prominent religious-liberty scholar argues that the legislation represents a workable accommodation between same-sex-marriage recognition and religious freedom.
69. [Respect for Marriage Act | U.S. Congress | 2022]
The statutory text is essential primary-source material for understanding what protections Congress enacted for same-sex and interracial marriages and for religious organizations.
70. [The Wedding-Vendor Cases | Douglas Laycock | Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy | 2018]
Analyzes conflicts involving bakers, florists, photographers, and other wedding vendors whose religious beliefs conflict with same-sex-marriage nondiscrimination rules.
Christian Nationalism, LGBTQ Politics, and Advocacy
71. [Project 2025 Exposed | GLAAD | 2024]
Reviews Project 2025 from an LGBTQ-advocacy perspective and links participating organizations and proposed policies to Christian-nationalist and anti-LGBTQ political movements.
72. [Project 2025 Messaging and Policy Analysis | Center for American Progress | 2024]
Critiques Project 2025 proposals relating to LGBTQ protections, abortion, family policy, government institutions, and Christian nationalism.
73. [National Association for Christian Lawmakers and LGBTQ Politics | Human Rights Campaign | December 2023]
Discusses model legislation, Christian-nationalist rhetoric, religious politics, and LGBTQ issues associated with the organization.
74. [Dynamics Within the Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience Network | Southern Poverty Law Center | December 2023]
Investigates organizations and individuals involved in anti-LGBTQ policy debates and argues that parts of the network intersect with Christian-nationalist movements.
75. [Policing Sex, Sexuality and Gender | Southern Poverty Law Center | December 12, 2023]
Examines political networks seeking restrictions on transgender health care and LGBTQ rights and links some organizations to Christian-nationalist ideology.
76. [How Anti-LGBTQ+ Medical Disinformation Is Generated | Southern Poverty Law Center | 2023]
Analyzes advocacy networks, expert testimony, political organizations, and religious-right legal strategies surrounding transgender policy.
77. [Trends and Threats of Hate & Antigovernment Extremism | Southern Poverty Law Center | 2023]
Discusses intersections among white Christian nationalism, anti-LGBTQ activism, conspiracy theories, public education disputes, and extremist rhetoric.
78. [Roundup: Speaker Mike Johnson’s Record | Human Rights Campaign | November 1, 2023]
An advocacy-oriented review connecting Johnson's past work on sexuality, marriage, religion, and abortion with contemporary Christian-nationalist politics.
79. [Christian Nationalism Is “Single Biggest Threat” to America’s Religious Freedom | Center for American Progress | 2022]
Argues that Christian nationalism threatens church-state separation and contributes to attempts to use religious exemptions against LGBTQ nondiscrimination rules.
80. [The Advancement of Christian Nationalism to Cover for Harmful Policies | Center for American Progress | 2020]
Reviews religious-exemption policies and argues that Christian-nationalist political strategies have sometimes been used to justify exemptions affecting LGBTQ people and other groups.
Christian Responses to Christian Nationalism
81. [Church & Community Resources | Christians Against Christian Nationalism | current]
Defines Christian nationalism as a fusion of Christianity with American civic identity and presents a Christian theological argument against the ideology.
82. [Christians Against Christian Nationalism Statement of Principles | Baptist Joint Committee / Christians Against Christian Nationalism | 2019–present]
Provides a religiously grounded critique of attempts to privilege Christianity through government.
83. [What Is Christian Nationalism? The Complete Guide | Scott A. Leadingham | Freedom Forum | updated May 21, 2026]
Provides an accessible overview of Christian nationalism, constitutional religious freedom, establishment, and debates over government promotion of Christianity.
84. [Good (Enough) Christians — The Limitations of “Christian Nationalism” as a Category | Religion Dispatches | September 19, 2024]
Argues that some patriarchal and anti-LGBTQ Christian politics cannot be explained solely by the Christian-nationalism label and recommends conceptual distinctions.
85. [Summit Encourages Faith Leaders to Challenge White Christian Nationalism | Southern Poverty Law Center | 2024]
Reports on Christian and interfaith leaders organizing against Christian nationalism while supporting pluralism, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ inclusion.
86. [Communities Fight Back Against Hate Groups and Far-Right Extremism | Southern Poverty Law Center | June 9, 2023]
Discusses organizations responding to Christian nationalism and other far-right movements, including groups defending LGBTQ inclusion.
87. [The Year in Hate & Extremism 2022 | Southern Poverty Law Center | 2023]
Includes analysis of white Christian nationalism, anti-LGBTQ activism, anti-Muslim politics, gender ideology, and far-right movements.
88. [New Report on White Christian Nationalism and the January 6 Insurrection | Religion Dispatches | February 15, 2022]
Summarizes research on Christian nationalism, January 6, gender, sexuality, abortion, LGBTQ rights, and political identity.
89. [Dangerous Devotion: Congressional Hearing Examines Threat of White Christian Nationalism | Southern Poverty Law Center | 2022]
Reports congressional testimony discussing white Christian nationalism together with antisemitism, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and political violence.
90. [I Grew Up Evangelical and the Christian Nationalist Insurrection Did Not Surprise Me | Religion Dispatches | January 28, 2021]
A first-person analysis connecting evangelical political culture, Christian nationalism, religious-freedom rhetoric, and opposition to LGBTQ protections.
Comparative and Contemporary Context
91. [Christian Nationalism and LGBTQ Rights Across the States | PRRI American Values Atlas | 2023–2026]
State-level survey data allow comparison of Christian-nationalism measures with nondiscrimination protections, religious-service-refusal attitudes, and same-sex-marriage support.
92. [Christian Nationalism, Religious Liberty, and LGBTQ Equality: The Continuing Constitutional Debate | Supreme Court decisions, survey research, and legal scholarship | 2003–2026]
The accumulated literature shows that the debate is not a single conflict between Christianity and LGBTQ rights. It includes disputes over same-sex marriage, employment discrimination, transgender policy, public accommodations, expressive businesses, institutional religious autonomy, compelled speech, free exercise, and the extent to which government should promote specifically Christian moral norms.
93. [Same-Sex Marriage, Religion, and American Public Opinion | Pew Research Center | 2007–2025 survey series]
Provides longitudinal evidence showing large changes in public acceptance of same-sex marriage, including major differences among religious traditions.
94. [Religiously Based Service Refusals for LGBTQ People | PRRI American Values Atlas | 2015–2025]
Tracks a decade of public opinion about whether business owners should be permitted to refuse products or services to gay and lesbian customers because of religious beliefs.
95. [Christian Nationalism and Same-Sex Marriage | PRRI American Values Atlas | 2025]
Reports a large gradient in same-sex-marriage support across Christian-nationalism categories, from Rejecters and Skeptics to Sympathizers and Adherents.
96. [Christian Nationalism and LGBTQ Nondiscrimination Protections | PRRI American Values Atlas | 2023–2025]
Examines how support for employment, housing, and public-accommodation protections varies with Christian-nationalist identity.
97. [Project 2025 and LGBTQ Policy | GLAAD | 2024]
Catalogs proposed changes affecting sexual orientation, gender identity, education, federal agencies, family policy, and civil-rights enforcement from an LGBTQ-advocacy perspective.
98. [Religious Freedom and LGBTQ Nondiscrimination After 303 Creative | PRRI Public Fellows | 2024]
Explores whether public opinion distinguishes between ordinary commercial discrimination and compelled expressive activity.
99. [U.S. Support for LGBTQ+ Rights Is Declining After Decades of Support. Here’s Why | PBS News Weekend | 2024]
Interviews PRRI's Melissa Deckman about recent public-opinion changes and the relationship between Christian-nationalist attitudes and LGBTQ rights.
100. [Christian Nationalism and Politics in Ghana | Jeffrey Haynes | Religions | September 2023]
Provides a valuable non-U.S. comparison, examining Christian-nationalist involvement in Ghanaian politics, the national cathedral, religious minorities, and efforts to restrict LGBTQ rights.
