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.

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.

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.

The telephone poll of 1,405 adults was conducted March 8-12 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

"I can only speak for myself but here is my point of view: In the eyes of the state, marriage is noting except a contract between two adults - no different than a business partnership."

Hehehe.. Well although that might be true, it's a very simplistic approach to the States vested interest in marriage.

http://uplink.space.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=freespace&Number=370649&page=&view=&sb=&o=&fpart=2&vc=1

This link to another board where I argue with a relentless batch of liberals and including one homosexual should sum up my position. In this thread I'm (well you should be able to figure it out). By the way if you want to learn how to argue against liberals and their sophists from a secular point of view I suggest typing in the name Hicup and reading all that is available..

I'd formulate a proper retort to your statement, but I'm being lazy and this thread is about as good as it gets covering all the bases..

D

To Explorer24:
Here are my views on the gay rights movement. I cannot speak for other people here.
I oppose gay marriage because I believe that children are best off with a mother and a father. This is a major argument among those of us who oppose gay marriage for non-religious reasons.
When a boy is raised by two lesbians, not only will he not have a dad, but the majority of his teachers will be female, especially in elementary school. This is not fair to the child, whether he grows up rich or poor. We hear all the time from the inner city that boys need fathers. Two lesbians are not the same as a mom and a dad.
I am old enough (55) to remember that in the 1970s, people argued that easy divorce would be good for children. Children would not have to hear parents fight; they would get two rooms, more toys and more brothers and sisters to play with. Well, it didn't turn out that way... We're getting the same types of excuses in connection with gay marriage. We haven't had enough time to develop a really solid body of evidence about the impacts on children of gay marriage/adoption. Wait another 30 years. There has to be a reason why it has never before existed in recorded human history.
In connection with civil unions, I oppose them because they, too, would erode traditional marriage. I'm sure there would be abuses. College roommates could "marry" in order to get benefits, for example. Also, why should heteros marry when they can get the same benefits with less hassle and less commitment?
Also, do homosexuals want marriage benefits in order to finance the costs of AIDS?
I know less about hospital visitation. I have no objection to hospital visits by anybody.
In 1989, Kirk and Madsen wrote a highly influential marketing manual for the gay rights movement. Called "After the Ball: How America Will Overcome Its Fear and Loathing of Gays in the 90s," it called, among other things, for opponents to be smeared with terms like "homophobe", "hateful", "racist", etc. This way, opponents are silenced. The idea is to try to make opponents feel ashamed in order to "reprogram" society's thinking about homosexuality.
A lot of what we hear about the gay rights movement in the press follows the suggestions of this book. The gay rights movement has done a magnificent job of marketing itself to the general public.
We don't hear much about the physical dangers of the homosexual life style, for example. We're also told that the Catholic Church sex scandal was not a homosexual problem; it was a pedophile problem. But the majority of those abused were young teenage boys. Pedophilia does not apply to kids who have reached puberty.
Hate crimes legislation has been used to silence Christians in Canada and Sweden. There are freedom of speech issues connected with this type of legislation.
These are some of my reasons for opposing the gay rights movement.
If you want more on the conservative side, you can also go to the website of Concerned Women for America, http://www.cwfa.org

If opposition to "gay" marriage is that low, why is it that in every state where actual people actually vote, it loses by much more? In OR the people voted 58% to protect marriage; in CA a few years ago it was 60 something %. In Missouri it was 87%. Can't remember other states but OR was the lowest support and even in that ultra liberal state the people said "NO!" to homosexual marriage.

Last year there were numbers stating that opposition to homosexual "marriage" was increasing. I'd like to see more numbers. I don't believe this poll. Actual votes are more accurate.

This is very useful insightful information. I thank you very much for sharing, exactly what I was looking for, even though some of it I thought of already. You laid it out very nicely without being abusive too, which I appreciate.

Your points re: fathers, is one well taken. I was raised w/o one and know all too well the problems associated with those circumstances. Though he may not be popular here, the comment is still very funny....in a Chris Rock stand-up show he talks about this exact issue, somewhat mocking the idea (paraphrased): "I can do dis on my own, I don't need no man, I can raise a kid by myself."

He goes on, "just 'cause ya can, don't mean ya should!"

Again, thanks for the feedback.

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