Poll: Acceptance of Gay Marriage Up

[deadparrot]

WASHINGTON - The public backlash over gay marriage has receded since a controversial decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 2003 to legalize those marriages stirred strong opposition, says a poll released Wednesday.

Gay marriage remains a divisive issue, with 51 percent opposing it, the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found. But almost two-thirds, 63 percent, opposed gay marriage in February 2004.

"Most Americans still oppose gay marriage, but the levels of opposition are down and the number of strong opponents are down," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "This has some implications for the midterm elections if this trend is maintained. There are gay marriage ballot initiatives in numerous states."

Gay marriage got intense media coverage in 2004 after the Massachusetts court case, the decision by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to issue thousands of marriage licenses to gay couples and similar cases. But the intense focus on gay marriage has declined in the last year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060323/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage_attitudes

[heirs_of_liberty]

1. Perfect example of the implications of Christian Fascism

how can we expect Muslims to learn to live and love Liberty when we are guided to hate it ourselves by our Conservative Fascist Christian CIA Mafia dictatorship?

Marriage by any other name is still marriage, and it is a monogamous, dedicated and responsible means of expressing ones responsible sexual identity. Oddly, many Christian Fascists see the common decency of others with different mores as no more than a threat to their 'freedom' to hate them! Their goal is to maintain the marginalization. persecution and austracism of homosexuals exactly as the Christian Fascist Nazi's of Germany did.

Jesus Christ was a 30-some yr old unmarried dude (in a culture where marriage occured in the mid-teens) who hung out almost exclusively with 12 sailors and an ex-streetwalker....

Get over it.

[Lexingtonian]

2. full poll link

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=273

The most interesting thing in the poll, power-politically, is that the South Dakota abortion ban is a wedge issue that splits moderate and conservative Republicans.

[Synnical]

3. "Says a Poll"

Who is this undernourished, un-educated, AP writer? Polls don't talk, they may reflect opinions, but they don't "say". My journalism teacher is scratching her eyes out. As I'm about to do, also.

This, AP piece, after they fired a longtime chief correspondent for The Associated Press in Vermont?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2182164&mesg_id=2182164

[ruggerson]

4. kick n/t

[rodeodance]

8. AND, 6 in 10 FAVOR allowing gays to serve in military OPENLY!

...People are now evenly split on allowing adoptions by gay couples and six in 10 now favor allowing gays to serve openly in the military.

Legal challenges of laws on gay marriage could result in more court decisions that stir public opinion, but this midterm election year is starting with far less public anxiety about one of the nation's most volatile social issues.

[rodeodance]

5. the public is way ahead of Repug Party!!

[rodeodance]

6. those who strongly oppose gay marriage DROPPED (42 to only 28%)

WHOW!

......In 2004, opponents of gay marriage were able to pass ballot initiatives banning the practice in 11 states, from Georgia to Oregon. Those gay marriage initiatives also helped conservatives rally their voters to the polls.

The number of people who say they strongly oppose gay marriage has dropped from 42 percent in early 2004 to 28 percent now. Strong opposition has dropped sharply among senior citizens and Republicans.........

[rodeodance]

7. Fox panel to talk of this in a few minutes--after commercial.

[rodeodance]

9. Brit Hume seems puzzled

[rodeodance]

10. says more people are favoring gay adoption also.

[rodeodance]

11. but Black attitudes have not changed (gay marriage)

[rodeodance]

12. k

[Laughing Mirror]

15. Oh is that so?

Do you have any surveys you can point to that indicate this?

[Brazenly Liberal]

17. Did that big ball of fire appear in the sky again this morning?

I'm sure it flabbergasts him every time. But he's a manly man, a man of action, and he gathers himself, puts on a stern face, and calls in a terror alert.

[WePurrsevere]

13. I truly believe that most Americans are, or truly want to be, moderate to

... liberal at heart. They want to see themselves kind, good, tolerant and caring so when exposed to the bigoted, non-"Christian" and downright rabid behavior of the RW they eventually pull and away. The more the right wing fundies and neo-cons open their mouths and attack the more Americns will turn away... as more Americans turn away the more rabid they will become resulting in even more turning away.

There are other factors as well. The media and Hollywood (Brokeback Mtn) are showing gays and lesbians as every day folks. More gays are coming out in the open. They are talking to people about how they feel and want from life which can now be seen as being the same basic things most Americans want... the freedom to be who they are, equality, love and family. Suddenly they are also now our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, best friends, the nice neighbor next door, etc. They are people we care about, we know and therefore tend to want to protect and they are being attacked so our nature is to rally around them. All of this makes it less "scarey" and therefore less threatening.

People fear and are threatened by that which they don't know or understand... when fear is removed through knowledge and/or love the RW fundies & neo-cons loose their power.

[BlueInPhilly]

14. I wish they'd stop publishing polls like this

it would only give the Christian Taliban another ammunition. Great battle cry, great fund-raising theme. "PROTECT OUR FAMILIES!"

[KansDem]

16. I wonder if "Brokeback Mountain" might have helped in this...

Brokeback Mountain tells the story of two young men - a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy - who meet in the summer of 1963, and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/plotsummary

Perhaps showing a gay relationship in a positive light had something to do with the public's increased acceptance of gays and lesbians. Even right-wing fundies would have a difficult time trying to justify a hatred for "a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love."

Haven't seen the movie, but intend to when the DVD comes out.

[Mizmoon]

18. considering the variety of "joke names" I've heard

for the film, I'm not so sure it helped or harmed. Also, I don't personally know anyone who actually saw it and I live in New York.

FWIW, I can't believe that anyone cares about anyone else's sex life. Like who give's a rat's ass? Gay men kissing, BFD.

[bunkerbuster1]

20. I think having the issue considered in the first place helped this.

Painful as it's been to see these voter referenda used as GOTV efforts among wingnuts, it's got people talking about a topic that they'd probably not really considered all that seriously until the last two years or so.

And I think when most reasonable people really think about it, they aren't as frightened by the prospect of a loving same-sex couple as the Goopers would like them to be.

In short, this poll really isn't all that surprising to me. At this rate, we'll see 70/30 approve/disapprove numbers in three or four years.

And boy oh boy, are some people going to look real foolish.

[Love Bug]

19. I think what is happening is people are actually rethinking the issue

instead of expressing their first, knee-jerk response which was reflected in the polls earlier. I think it's funny that all of the fuss generated by the reich-wing over this is starting to have a back-lash. Maybe if we're lucky this will go away as a wedge issue by Fall once the polls break that 51% margin. If we're lucky.

[shawmut]

21. Poll: Opposition to Gay Marriage Declining

Poll: Opposition to Gay Marriage Declining


WASHINGTON - The public backlash over gay marriage has receded since a controversial decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 2003 to legalize those marriages stirred strong opposition, says a poll released Wednesday.

Gay marriage remains a divisive issue, with 51 percent opposing it, the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found. But almost two-thirds, 63 percent, opposed gay marriage in February 2004.

"Most Americans still oppose gay marriage, but the levels of opposition are down and the number of strong opponents are down," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "This has some implications for the midterm elections if this trend is maintained. There are gay marriage ballot initiatives in numerous states."

Gay marriage got intense media coverage in 2004 after the Massachusetts court case, the decision by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to issue thousands of marriage licenses to gay couples and similar cases. But the intense focus on gay marriage has declined in the last year.

----

The number of people who say they strongly oppose gay marriage has dropped from 42 percent in early 2004 to 28 percent now. Strong opposition has dropped sharply among senior citizens and Republicans.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060323/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage_attitudes

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

22. Just wait until election time.

Once the Repugs start whipping people into a frenzy again, I guarantee that number will go back up. There just hasn't been a ton of focus on it lately.

[Karenca]

23. Do you think some movies

(especially BBM) had any influence on people's
opinions on this matter?

[TrogL]

24. The sky failed to fall

The RRR's proclaimed that if gay marriage went through, the sky would fall, three-headed calves would be born, hurricanes would threaten mid-western America and that Canada, Belgium, Holland (I've lost my list) would be swallowed up into the bowels of hell. (yes, I'm exaggerating).

Well, it did snow last week, but other than happen life appears to be business as usual.

[Turn CO Blue]

25. Well, it's a start in the right direction.

The truth is that the RNC will regret the day they ever made this an issue, because attitudes do change toward the more progressive viewpoint once people have had a chance to think about things, and once these people realize that they know someone their prejudices are hurting personally. It happened in my family. I have two family members who have changed their views on gay marriage/gay civil unions once they had thought about it.

[ruggerson]

26. If 40% of the country supports gay marriage

Why the hell don't Democratic politicians just unambiguously support it?

Ronald Reagan and Bush the ELder were staunchly anti-choice at a time when the anti choice position was roughly 33% of the electorate.

But their position was respected even by people who disagreed with them, because they TOOK A STAND.

There is NO, I repeat, NO political downside for a politician in 2006 to say, hey, I understand that some people will disagree with me and I respect that disagreement, but I support equality under the law and that extends to civil (not religious) marriages. I believe strongly that any religion should be able to follow its own beliefs and exclude anyone from their marriage rites, but I also strongly believe that the state should NOT be able to discriminate.

Period. End of story. That's how you defuse the religious right. Not by taking nuanced idiotic positions on a moral issue because of fear of rightwing bigots at the polling booth.