Latino values fit right in with Utah's

Latinos hold conservative family values that may fit right in with Utahns, according to a nationwide survey by the Pew Hispanic Research Center. That might have something to do with the migration of many Hispanics from California to Utah, a state with a reputation for being conservative and family-oriented.

Only two in 10 Latinos (20 percent) consider abortion acceptable, while more than four in 10 non-Hispanic whites called the procedure acceptable, noted the Pew report, which surveyed some 3,000 Latinos last year.

On the subject of divorce, 40 percent of Latino respondents said it's unacceptable, while only 24 percent of whites said so.

Gay sexual relationships were thought to be unacceptable by 72 percent of the Hispanics in the survey, compared with only 59 percent of whites.

Then comes a response that, at first, doesn't seem to fit with the other traditionalist attitudes.

Having a child out of wedlock was acceptable to 57 percent of Hispanics and 55 percent of whites. When asked to explain, Centro de la Familia de Utah director Graciela Italiano-Thomas replied, "The answer is that children are sacred.

"A child is always joy, regardless of the circumstances," she said, adding that Latinos are against abortion for the same reason. "People may feel that the young woman and man may have made a mistake. But that's not the unborn child's fault."

Italiano-Thomas was born in Uruguay and has lived in Mexico and Panama, so she's well-acquainted with Latino culture. But she emphasized that while she speaks from experience, she speaks for herself and definitely not for all Hispanic people. And she didn't hold back what she called her "personal bias," that "Latinos in general are very accommodating to children."

They want those children to stay home as long as possible. According to the Pew survey, 78 percent of U.S. Hispanics want their offspring to live at home until they marry. Only 46 percent of whites had such a thing in mind.

Michael Zamba, a New York-based media consultant who grew up in Kenosha, Wis., is married to a Mexican woman; they have two daughters who were born in Mexico. Following their permanent move to the States, they're looking at where their girls might go to college. "My wife says, 'It doesn't matter where they go; we'll just move there,' " Zamba said, smiling.