New research suggests that the more pornography consumed by straight men, the less likely they are to be opposed to equal marriage.

The new study, published in the Communication Research journal, suggests that the more straight men watch porn, the more likely they are to support equal marriage.

According to the study the link is made because porn opens up the mind of straight people to be more accepting of “non-traditional sexual situations”, such as gay sex.

“Our study suggests that the more heterosexual men, especially less educated heterosexual men, watch pornography, the more supportive they become of same-sex marriage,” Indiana University Assistant Professor Paul Wright told The Washington Examiner.

Mr Wright goes on to say: “Pornography adopts an individualistic, nonjudgmental stance on all kinds of nontraditional sexual behaviors and same-sex marriage attitudes are strongly linked to attitudes about same-sex sex.

“If people think individuals should be able to decide for themselves whether to have same-sex sex, they will also think that individuals should be able to decide for themselves whether to get married to a partner of the same-sex.”

He added: “Since a portion of individuals’ sexual attitudes come from the media they consume, it makes sense that pornography viewers would have more positive attitudes towards same-sex marriage.”

The results of the study, which was co-authored by Ashley Randall of the University of Arizona, were gathered by studying 500 straight men over six years.

“Pornography consumption did predict over-time increases in support for same-sex marriage,” the duo found.