gay marriage

[briannell]

found this site - since we were off topic anyway.

Gay Marriage Opposed

By nearly two-to-one, more Americans oppose (59%) than favor (32%) legalizing gay marriage. This reflects something of a backlash from polls conducted earlier in the year, before the Supreme Court's ruling in June that struck down state laws against sodomy. In a July survey shortly after that decision, the public opposed gay marriage by a smaller margin (53%-38%).

Strong opposition to the idea of gay marriage is the plurality position. Among those who oppose the idea, nearly six-in-ten say they feel strongly about it (35% of the total population express this view.) Among those who favor gay marriage, fewer than three-in-ten say they strongly support the proposal (9% of the total.)

The survey also finds that most who are opposed to gay marriage believe that it would be enough to prohibit it by law, and that a constitutional amendment is not necessary. While 59% oppose gay marriage, just 10% say the Constitution should "be amended to ban gay marriage" in a follow-up question. Instead, 42% say it is "enough to prohibit gay marriage by law without changing the Constitution."

This is notably different from a number of recent surveys which have found majorities supporting such an amendment when no alternative of a legal prohibition is offered. For example, a July CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey found 50% favoring, and 45% opposing, "a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman, thus barring marriages between gay or lesbian couples."


Young People More Supportive of Gay Marriage

A closer look at the opinions of various demographic groups on this issue shows that young people, especially those in their late teens and twenties, are more supportive of gay marriage than are older Americans. Even this youngest group of Americans do not, on balance, favor this idea; rather, they are divided. But that is in stark contrast to people in their forties and fifties, where twice as many oppose gay marriage as favor it. Among those in their sixties and seventies, opposition outnumbers support by as much as four-to-one.



People in their early thirties today have a relatively favorable view of gay marriage and their views are similar to those of younger generations. But those in their late thirties are much more opposed; in fact, opposition is as widespread in this group as among people in their forties and fifties.


Education a Key Among Older Americans

Overall, Americans with college degrees are divided almost evenly over the issue of gay marriage (49% oppose, 44% favor) while those without oppose the idea by well over two-to-one (63% to 27%). Education is a particularly important factor among older generations.

College graduates age 65 and older are more than three times as likely to favor gay marriage than are seniors with less education (33% to 9%). Among those age 50-64, college grads are twice as likely to favor gay marriage as their less educated counterparts (43% to 21%). By comparison, education makes relatively little difference among those under age 30, where support for gay marriage runs highest. Since younger generations are more likely to have college degrees than older, this education gap contributes to the overall size of the generation gap on gay marriage.

While majorities of both genders are opposed to the idea of gay marriage, men express somewhat more opposition than women. This gender gap exists across all age ranges, with men consistently four-to-eight percent more likely to oppose gay marriage than women.

Not surprisingly, the most religious Americans are the least likely to favor gay marriage. Nearly half of Americans with relatively low religious commitment approve of allowing homosexual couples the right to marry, compared with just 17% of those who are more religious. This gap along religious lines exists across all age groups.

The issue of gay marriage has a clear political component. Both Democrats and independents (39% each) are twice as likely as Republicans (18%) to approve of gay marriage. This political gap between Democrats and Republicans exists across all age levels.

Attitudes about gay marriage are closely linked to where a person lives ­ with opposition significantly higher in the South, and in rural areas of the country. But there is little racial divide over gay marriage. Both whites and blacks oppose gay marriage by roughly two-to-one ­ most Hispanics also oppose the idea, but by a smaller margin (51% to 36%).

Perceptions of homosexuality are closely related to views about gay marriage. In particular, people who believe homosexuality is a choice, as opposed to a trait people are born with, are far more opposed to gay marriage, as are people who believe homosexuals can change.

Overall, most people (55%) who think homosexuality is something people are born with favor gay marriage, compared with just 21% of those who think it is just the way that some people prefer to live. Similarly, 49% of those who think homosexuality cannot be changed favor gay marriage, compared with 19% of those who think it can.

Personal contact with homosexuality is also a key factor in shaping people's views on this policy issue. Americans who have a friend, colleague or family member who is gay are roughly twice as likely to favor gay marriage as those who do not (39% to 21%). This gap exists across all age groups, but does not override the importance of age in shaping peoples' views. Among both the youngest and oldest cohorts, those who know someone who is gay are about twice as likely to favor gay marriage as those who do not. Among those under age 30, about half (49%) of those who know a gay person are supportive of gay marriage compared with 27% of those who do not have a gay acquaintance or relative. But among those age 65 and older, just 20% of those who know a homosexual favor gay marriage, compared with 10% who are not acquainted with a gay person.


Moral Objections Cited Most

The most common reasons given for objecting to gay and lesbian marriage are moral and religious. Asked in an open-ended format their main reason for opposing gay marriage, more than a quarter of opponents (28%) explicitly cite the view that homosexuality is immoral, a sin, or inconsistent with biblical teaching, and another 17% say the idea simply is in conflict with their religious beliefs. One-in-five who oppose gay marriage explain their position in less moral, and more literal terms, saying that the definition of marriage involves a man and a woman (16%), or that the purpose of marriage is reproduction (4%).

Other issues that frequently come up in the debate over gay marriage are not the primary factors in the public's mind. Just 1% say they oppose gay marriage on the grounds that it undermines traditional families, and just 1% refer to possible legal or governmental problems, or the possibility of people taking advantage of such laws to get economic benefits

['93HonoluluCat]

found this site - since we were off topic anyway.

Gay Marriage Opposed

By nearly two-to-one, more Americans oppose (59%) than favor (32%) legalizing gay marriage.

Interesting article. I have found similar statistics on secular (non-religious) sites. Seems it is quite a minority making all the noise in trying to get their activities seen as mainstream.

[SonomaCat]

found this site - since we were off topic anyway.

Gay Marriage Opposed

By nearly two-to-one, more Americans oppose (59%) than favor (32%) legalizing gay marriage.

Interesting article. I have found similar statistics on secular (non-religious) sites. Seems it is quite a minority making all the noise in trying to get their activities seen as mainstream.

Those stats don't surprise me, but also don't suggest any justification of the majority opinion in my mind. This is just like the popular opinions towards slavery early in our history and majority oppostion to interracial marriage as recently as the 1960s. The majority is often wrong, and only time makes that obvious to the majority in retrospect.

It's also interesting to note the changes in the opinions that result when people actually know gay people. As is often the case, when people know more about the people they are opining on, the more like those opinions truly represent the "do unto others" philosophy.

The overall percentages also represent the worst-case scenario. Full support of gay marriage is the most extreme position (as it is not currently the norm) whereas the against position includes a lot of variability, all the way from people who would support civil unions with all marriage rights as long as its not called marriage to people who are outright bigots who simply don't like gay people because they are gay. That's a wide variety of people that fall into that 59%.

[mslacat]

I would have to agree with what BAC said. Public/popular opinion is not a measuring stick as to what is "right". Our founding father provided checks and balances with in our constitution that would protect the rights of the minorities, over the will of the majority. Namely this job has fallen upon the Supreme Court, but the executive branch has also been a mover in this subject (anyone remember the Civil War thingy). I have had gay friends who wished to be able to commit to one another in a meaningful way, but in this state they can not. I find the majority of the arguments, against gay marriages contrived if not out and out rationalizations for bigotry. As I sit in my house looking at neighbors to the left, right in front and rear of me. I see couples living in sin, blended families of divorced, a gay couple, and a newly married couple. I have a great batch of neighbors. I have no idea which of these couples is more committed than the others nor do I care. It is none of my business, but I can tell you this I do not have a problem what so ever explaining to my kids the different dynamics each relationship brings, and that loving relationships come in many shapes.

[Hell's Bells]

found this site - since we were off topic anyway.

Gay Marriage Opposed

By nearly two-to-one, more Americans oppose (59%) than favor (32%) legalizing gay marriage.

Interesting article. I have found similar statistics on secular (non-religious) sites. Seems it is quite a minority making all the noise in trying to get their activities seen as mainstream.

well yes but when the poll numbers are like this....minority trumps the majority? personally i dont care what people do in their lives but when the numbers are like that dont go and call the majority bigoted or fundamentalist. It possibly has somthing to do with their religious beliefs

btw does it have to be called a "marrage"? how about civil union? why not meet in the middle and comprimise. if you goto a judge we will have row v. wade all over again and a divided populus, however if it is decided by the people then the issue is decided.


i bet you that less then 1 percent of that 59% is truly bigoted although it depends on the defination of the term. i know people that will argue that just be denying them the right to "marrage" that those 59% would be bigoted in some fashion or another.

[SonomaCat]

Being discriminatory based on religious beliefs and being bigoted are not mutually exclusive ideas. In fact, religion has been wrongly used as a justification for various forms of bigotry throughout time. So simply saying that someone feels the way they do because of religion doesn't make it right, not does it preclude them from being a bigot. It merely makes one wonder whether they are interpreting the religion correctly, or whether there is a flaw with the religion itself.

After all, the basis of justification for both slavery and objections to interracial marriages (to keep with my previous examples) was rooted in religion. In time, most people shed those beliefs and no longer tried to wrap themselves in their religions to justify it (good things for both the religion and the world). In time, the same will happen with bigotry against gays.

As to how many people are actually bigots (think gays are "wrong" and/or inferior and therefore don't deserve equal rights) as opposed to just being against gay marriage in some form, I'm not sure. I hope you're right and that the number is small. I'd like to think that most of the people against the concept are against it based on nuanced legal philosophies (such as semantic arguments such as "civil union" vs. "marriage.").

In time though, it won't matter. Years from now, when people in the U.S. realize that Spain, Canada, and The Netherlands didn't end up falling into moral decay revolution or being sucked straight to hell as a result of their changes in marriage law, then all of the straw man arguments against gay marriage will evaporate, leaving only the true bigots with their antiquated ideas ... just like the white supremecists of today.

[El_Gato]

...In time though, it won't matter. Years from now, when people in the U.S. realize that Spain, Canada, and The Netherlands didn't end up falling into moral decay revolution or being sucked straight to hell as a result of their changes in marriage law, then all of the straw man arguments against gay marriage will evaporate, leaving only the true bigots with their antiquated ideas ... just like the white supremecists of today...

There's just 2 things I can't stand in the world today:

People who are intolerant of other people's cultures

and

the Dutch!

- Nigel Powers

['93HonoluluCat]

[This is just like the popular opinions towards slavery early in our history and majority oppostion to interracial marriage as recently as the 1960s. The majority is often wrong, and only time makes that obvious to the majority in retrospect.

BAC, I understand where you're coming from, but I don't buy your analogy. Slavery was a wrong that was exposed as such, but the "gay rights" movement is about legitimizing a societal anomaly.

[Grizlaw]

BAC, I understand where you're coming from, but I don't buy your analogy. Slavery was a wrong that was exposed as such, but the "gay rights" movement is about legitimizing a societal anomaly.

Isn't that precisely the point, though?

During the pre-Civil War era, it was just accepted as a truism that blacks were inferior to whites, and that a black man's proper place in the world was serving whites.

Today, it is accepted as a truism (by some) that homosexuality is a "societal anomaly." I wonder if our view on this issue will be the same 200 years from now?

['93HonoluluCat]

Today, it is accepted as a truism (by some) that homosexuality is a "societal anomaly." I wonder if our view on this issue will be the same 200 years from now?

Doubtful. Despite the attempts to show genetic differences between straight and non-straight people, there has been no evidence--except for a woefully flawed study in 1993--to support any chemical or genetic linkage, unlike the difference between any of the races.

[SonomaCat]

Today, it is accepted as a truism (by some) that homosexuality is a "societal anomaly." I wonder if our view on this issue will be the same 200 years from now?

Doubtful. Despite the attempts to show genetic differences between straight and non-straight people, there has been no evidence--except for a woefully flawed study in 1993--to support any chemical or genetic linkage, unlike the difference between any of the races.

You might have missed this one:

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology ... mones.html

Of course, if we were truly interested in the truth as to whether gays proactivley choose to live a life that makes them social pariahs or whether they are born with no other choice, all one really has to do is ask a couple of them. Either they are all lying, or they really are just born that way.

[Grizlaw]

Today, it is accepted as a truism (by some) that homosexuality is a "societal anomaly." I wonder if our view on this issue will be the same 200 years from now?

Doubtful. Despite the attempts to show genetic differences between straight and non-straight people, there has been no evidence--except for a woefully flawed study in 1993--to support any chemical or genetic linkage, unlike the difference between any of the races.

I am not interested in having the "nature vs. nurture" debate. Like BAC, I have known a fair number of gay people in my life, and I do not believe they all "chose" their orientation. But neither of us can prove the point, so I'm not going to try to convince you.

However -- let's assume, for the moment, that you're right, and it *is* a choice. So what? Does that make it *right* to discriminate against people whose conduct really isn't harming anyone?

Your post implies that race-based discrimination differs from sexual orientation-based discrimination because race is genetic and sexual orientation, in your view, is not. Ok, fine. Question: what if race *was* a choice? If a person had the ability to choose whether they wanted to be black or white, then would it be ok to enslave people who chose to be black?

['93HonoluluCat]

However -- let's assume, for the moment, that you're right, and it *is* a choice. So what? Does that make it *right* to discriminate against people whose conduct really isn't harming anyone?

Your post implies that race-based discrimination differs from sexual orientation-based discrimination because race is genetic and sexual orientation, in your view, is not. Ok, fine. Question: what if race *was* a choice? If a person had the ability to choose whether they wanted to be black or white, then would it be ok to enslave people who chose to be black?

Interesting point. My point, though, is this: because (as you pointed out, in my view) it is a choice, we don't need to create an entire new set of "rights" to appease the minority that requests them.

[Grizlaw]

Interesting point. My point, though, is this: because (as you pointed out, in my view) it is a choice, we don't need to create an entire new set of "rights" to appease the minority that requests them.

I don't think anyone is advocating giving them a new set of rights; isn't the debate simply over giving them the same set of rights that the majority has always had?