For first time, majority in US back gay marriage: poll
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WASHINGTON (AFP) – For the first time in nearly a decade of polling, a majority of Americans say they are in favor of same-sex marriage, a survey released Friday showed.
Fifty-three percent of Americans support gay marriage, up more than 20 percentage points from a low of 32 percent in 2004, the poll of 1,005 adults conducted over four days last week for ABC News and the Washington Post found.
Gary Langer of Langer Research Associates, which produced the poll, called the findings a "milestone result that caps a dramatic, long-term shift in public attitudes."
Five years ago, only a majority of people younger than 30 supported gay marriage, but now majorities of those in their 30s and 40s do, the poll shows.
But, overall, Americans are still divided over gay marriage, with as many adults strongly opposed to same-sex unions as support them, and opposition to same-sex unions still strong among conservatives.
Republicans oppose gay marriage by a ratio of two to one, and evangelical white Protestants, a core conservative group, are opposed to same-sex unions by three to one, an analysis of the survey's findings says.
Gay marriage is legal in five US states and the capital, Washington, and a handful of other states allow same-sex civil unions.
The Obama administration late last month said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law banning federal recognition of gay marriages, but the Republican-led House of Representatives has vowed to fight the president's decision in the courts.
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it's about time!
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It'll still be another 10 million years before gays get equality under the law.
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It'll still be another 10 million years before gays get equality under the law.
Unless you live in Canada >:D
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these conversations always end this way
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Right….... Well I for one have hope that I will live to see the end of this discrimination.
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One day…. One day... Just remember, even Martin Luther King had a dream. (no pun intended)
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It'll still be another 10 million years before gays get equality under the law.
I don't think it will be very, very long. A 2009 study of support for same-sex marriage by age and state (linked to below) was pretty revealing. It showed that, among those over age 65, Massachusetts had the highest percentage of same-sex marriage supporters – about 35% (Massachusetts is one of the most liberal states, for those not in the U.S.) Among those aged 18-29, support for same-sex marriage was greater than 35% in all states, and in most states it was greater than 50% among that age group. So time is on our side.
The link is below. Scroll down to the second chart, "Explicit support for same-sex marriage by state and age." You can click on it to get the chart viewable at a larger size.
hxxp://baselinescenario.com/2009/11/04/same-sex-marriage-and-time/
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We can't even get ENDA {Employment Non Discrimination Act} when most people agree that gays should have job protections. ENDA {has had 4 names since 1970) has gone up for a vote every year since 1970 and has never been able to get passed, despite the huge support for it to pass from the public.
42 US states and the federal government allow discrimination against gays in countless areas; ie jobs, housing, banking, insurance, ect, etc, etc, etc
At least 38 of the US states specifically have constitutional amendments banning equality for gays in marriage/civil unions.
With these facts, tell me why I should believe gays will ever see equality even in the most basic terms.
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Again as I said… Even Martin Luther King had a dream. Just because there's all this opposition doesn't mean that things can't change. It only means that it will be that much longer before they do.
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We can't even get ENDA {Employment Non Discrimination Act} when most people agree that gays should have job protections. ENDA {has had 4 names since 1970) has gone up for a vote every year since 1970 and has never been able to get passed, despite the huge support for it to pass from the public.
42 US states and the federal government allow discrimination against gays in countless areas; ie jobs, housing, banking, insurance, ect, etc, etc, etc
At least 38 of the US states specifically have constitutional amendments banning equality for gays in marriage/civil unions.
With these facts, tell me why I should believe gays will ever see equality even in the most basic terms.
I think it'd be a very different world if our government representatives always voted the way their constituents really wanted them to; and in many cases, we might be worse off, but that said, I think they need to give feedback as to why they don't.
"We had to vote to abolish slavery because ultimately, if truth be told, you're just a bunch of lazy, cheap-ass fucks."
More eloquently put, so as to not get kicked out of office, of course. LOL -
"We had to vote to abolish slavery because ultimately, if truth be told, you're just a bunch of lazy, cheap-ass fucks."
More eloquently put, so as to not get kicked out of office, of course. LOLI cannot say that that statement accurately represents the entire population of people of African decent.
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"We had to vote to abolish slavery because ultimately, if truth be told, you're just a bunch of lazy, cheap-ass fucks."
More eloquently put, so as to not get kicked out of office, of course. LOLI cannot say that that statement accurately represents the entire population of people of African decent.
OMG, I wasn't thinking that as being directed towards people of African decent at all since they didn't have the right to vote in those days; I was directing that more towards the voting constituency: plantation/slave owners. My apologies if that's how that was interpreted.
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My bad… I know there are a lot of racists around here that think that all people of African decent are sub-human. Now that I read your comment, I can see it in that context.
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disaster averted whew!!! :hug:
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I've always wondered what the poll results would be if they included a choice like "don't really care". Another interesting poll question would be: "Would legalizing same gender marriage affect your personal life in any way?" If truth be told, I think that a large majority of Americans don't give a fuck about the issue.
