"It's been a long time since Niki Solis was a teen living on a different coast than her parents, uncertain how to tell her Latino, Catholic family that she's a lesbian. In the decades since they found out -- they were surprised only that she waited so long to tell them, Solis said -- that kind of uncertainty faded amid her legal career, marriage in San Francisco and motherhood," writes Jamie Gumbrecht. "For the first time since Gallup began its annual Values and Beliefs survey a decade ago, more than half of respondents said gay and lesbian relations were morally acceptable. The number has risen most years since 2001, and peaked this year at 52 percent. The percentage that said gay and lesbian relations are morally wrong dropped to a new low of 43 percent. Support for same-sex marriage increased, too, although more than half still said they oppose it. The latest data doesn't count what LGBT advocates say is one of the greatest challenges for acceptance: race and ethnicity. Acceptance increases when people know gay or lesbian individuals, and for decades, white gays and lesbians were more open to the mainstream. People of color weren't. Niki Solis said she knows people without supportive families or friendly communities." READ MORE