Gay Politics
(Note: This article was updated on Feb. 19, 2010)
Four polls released over the last week show that the American public is slowly but steadily coming to support the idea that marriage equality should be the law of the land.
The latest Washington Post/ABC poll shows the highest support, finding for the first time that more people (49 percent) are in favor of gay marriage than are against it (46 percent). That’s a whopping 17 point jump in support in the poll from five years ago.
In a CNN poll released yesterday, opposition to gay marriage was ahead, 54 percent to 44 percent, while 60 percent favored same-sex civil unions. (The most significant finding in the poll may have been the 58 percent support for gay marriage among young voters.)
The New York Times/CBS poll found that 42 percent supported gay marriage — the highest number ever recorded in that poll. And the Quinnipiac University poll reported that 55 percent opposed gay marriage while 38 percent favored it. On the other hand, by 57 percent to 38 percent, these same voters said they favored civil unions.
One factor behind the steady growth in support for marriage equality is that as fair-minded people delve into the arguments for and against gay marriage, the rationales promoted by anti-gay activists collapse under scrutiny.
In 1968, the year after the “activist” Supremes legalized interracial marriage in its decision on Loving vs. Virginia, a Gallup poll found that the vast majority of Americans still opposed the idea that blacks and whites could marry — 72 percent to 20 percent. Just 10 years earlier, in the wake of a California Supreme Court decision that overturned newly minted anti-interracial marriage laws in the state, Gallup found that 94 percent of Americans opposed mixed-race marriages.
As meager as support for gay marriage is now — 49 percent in WashPost, 44 percent in CNN, 42 percent in the Times/CBS and 38 percent in Qunnipiac — it is still about double the 20-percent approval for interracial marriage in the country a few months after mixed marriages became legal. (The average of support in the four new polls is 43.25 percent.)
In fact, it wasn’t until 1991, almost a quarter century after Loving, that opinion flipped on interracial marriage, 48 percent to 42 percent.
The most interesting number in the current round of polls comes from CNN, which found that 49 percent of Americans said they knew someone who is gay. It’s this factor that is likely prompting fair-minded people to apply more rigorous analysis to the flimsy excuses for opposing gay marriage.
The fact that half the people in the country say they have a gay friend or family member also proves that coming out works. Bigotry is a byproduct of ignorance. Nothing debunks stereotypes and popular misconceptions than actually knowing someone who is gay.
(The fact that 49 percent of Americans claim to know someone who is gay also appears to belie anti-gay activists’ assertion that only 1 or 2 percent of the population is gay. By comparison, about 1.5 percent of the country are Mormons, but it seems unlikely that half of Americans would say they personally know someone who is a Mormon. For example, I don’t.)
On “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” a few weeks ago, conservative columnist George Will warned Republicans that it was folly to continue to pin their party’s future on drumming up hatred for gay people to turn out votes. Young conservatives, he said, see being gay as no more controversial than being left-handed.
That statement from one of the Beltway’s leading expositors of conventional thinking was a sign of defeat for the dwindling army of homophobes and their anti-gay agenda.
The start of the “coming out” movement roughly coincides with the Stonewall Riots in June 1969 — just five years after the Loving decision. While there is a long way to go, this is a remarkable — and, yes, historic — turnaround in public attitudes in just 40 years.
Topics: Gay Politics
Very, very good article Jon. Keep up the good work!!
[...] [...]
[...] Družinski zakonik: predsodki, manipulacije in neumnosti desnice ponedeljek, 21. september 2009, 18:59 Avtor: Jure Mesari? Kategorija: Slovenija In 1968, the year after the “activist” Supremes legalized interracial marriage in its decision on Loving vs. Virginia, a Gallup poll found that the vast majority of Americans still opposed the idea that blacks and whites could marry — 72 percent to 20 percent. Just 10 years earlier, in the wake of a California Supreme Court decision that overturned newly minted anti-interracial marriage laws in the state, Gallup found that 94 percent of Americans opposed mixed-race marriages. Pensito [...]
Here’s a crazy idea: Rather than having the government maintain a list of what kinds of marriages are right or wrong, why don’t we just remove government from the institution of marriage altogether?
We wouldn’t be able to have all those fun rallies and marches and referendums and stuff. We’d also be depriving our politicians of precious, precious talking points. But aside from the obvious negatives, I think it’d be worth considering.
I know, I know it’s a radical and inelegant solution to the problem. Sorry to have wasted your time.
Then we should really consider revoking interracial marriage as being legal shouldn’t we?
randal, was that addressed to me? If so, let me explain this more slowly (Actually, I’ll just ask that you read more slowly. Same affect.)
Governments shouldn’t be granting or be involved with ANY kind of marriage. Marriage should be a contract between or among two or more consenting individuals. If they want to involve the church or the Masons or a goat, that’s up to them (and the goat).
The problem is that governments have been using things like marriage licenses to shape human behavior and pander to it’s dumbest constituents (for example people who hold any kind of religious belief whatsoever) ever since the first Neanderthal neighborhood association. Want this tax break? Gotta’ be married. Want a judge to grant you custody of a child when your partner dies? Better be married. And on and on.
What about all of the other thousands of contracts you involve yourself with in your lifetime? Why shouldn’t they be on record in your state capitol. For that matter, why just state governments? Should your car lease be approved by your county, state or federal government? Why not the United Nations? Why not all of the above? What’s so special about marriage (other than that it’s a convenient way to coerce people.)
And not to get all Carl Sagan on you, but there’s probably an even bigger government out there somewhere that has a way to approve your marriage. Keep in mind though, they might have more than just two measly genders. Are you sure your marriage is legal on Zebulon-Pike?
Sorry to be all radical. I’d just like to be able to go through life with fewer permission slips from the Great Hall Monitor.
And would you believe that my spouse and I are of different races. It’s true. You can continue to pin “RACIST” on me, if you like. And, hey, if you count “stupid” as a race, I’m about as smart-power as they get. (”They keep lettin’ them Idiotos in frum Dumbfukistan, takin’ all our GOOD jobs. An’ thuh pres-ee-dent, he a ain’t nuthin’ but gal-dern Stupidito…”, etc and so forth.)
- The fact that 49 percent of Americans claim to know someone who is gay also appears to belie anti-gay activists’ assertion that only 1 or 2 percent of the population is gay. By comparison, about 1.5 percent of the country are Mormons, but it seems unlikely that half of Americans would say they personally know someone who is a Mormon. For example, I don’t. -
That’s because Mormon’s aren’t as equally spread out across America (mostly centred in Utah) as homosexuals, therefore there isn’t an equal chance for people of other orientations to get to know them.
The only reason government is involved in marriage of any kind is because people receive tax benefits when they are married. Not because you like men or women. Get over yourselves, seriously. The real culprits of anti-gay marriage sentiments are those who spuriously claim religious and moral authority over other people. It is certainly more terrible to be at the mercy of one group’s insidious, self-perceived superiority than to be held to laws that can be debated and changed. Nothing will change the sentiments in that two thousand year old book unless a council amends the “word of God” again.
Mayor McCheese, the conservatives are working on removing the “liberal” influence on the bible. Apparently being nice wasn’t the original intent of Jesus. He really came to kill blacks and gays.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project
I like this article. Whenever some idiot says something anti-gay I like to bring up how my marriage might not have been legal in GA a little over 40 years ago.
See the above link to an article today about the Louisiana bigot who has been refusing to marry mixed race couples.
Sorry that was unclear. This is the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/16/mixed-race-couple-marriage-licence
No one can tell that a person is gay by looking at them!
There is still a lot of hostility toward blacks in America because, unfortunately, skin color cannot be changed. Someone who sees a black male, for example, instantly has preconceived notions about blacks mostly due to negative press. Too often black men are still seen as shiftless, lazy, unintelligent gangsters or thugs. Black women are either viewed as abusive welfare queens sucking the “system” dry with their myriads of kids, whores, or angry, higher-than-thou b***ches with attitudes. These stereotypes have persisted despite all the hype about diversity. America is STILL a racist country and blacks and people of color are STILL at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder across every spectrum.
America may finally be warming up to the idea that gays are people of worth and value and should be accorded all rights due them. This country would be truly ideal if, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, all people were “judged by the content of their character” and not by their skin color or sexual orientation.
Just my 2¢, for what it’s worth…
Did marry men or women marry women 5000 years ago? Was there a time in society when they did on a regular basis and such couples were fully accepted in the society at that time?
Just asking because I didn’t know that!
Clara, if we’re going to base our laws today on the standards of nomadic desert tribes 5,000 years ago then it will be legal for men to have multiple wives and to own slaves and illegal for women to work, own property or make a move without the permission of the top male in their families.
I know that sounds like an ideal world to right-wing religious nuts and Tea Baggers, but normal people want to live in a world that reflects the progress we’ve made as a society over the past 50 centuries.
Actually, Jon, you just described Afghanistan. Only it’s even worse.