Compared to Mexico, religion's role in US society has hindered progress on legal equality for LGBT people

New research by Caroline Beer and Victor Cruz Aceves examines the puzzling finding that Mexico has offered greater legal equality for LGBT people for a longer period of time than the United States. They argue that this can be explained by the wider separation of church and state in Mexican politics and the strong importance of human rights in new democracies. Examining LGBT rights at the subnational level, they also find that states with more LGBT organizations and governors from left parties are more likely to recognize same sex relationships, but the religious makeup of states only matters in the United States, and not in Mexico.