How's this for a quote?
In what Glengariff Group pollster Richard Czuba describes as a seismic shift in public opinion, even support for gay marriage has nearly doubled since a similar poll in 2004
NEARLY DOUBLED. The question was "Do you support or oppose allowing gay/lesbian couples to marry?" Five years ago 24% of respondents said yes and 61% said no. Two weeks ago, only 48% said no and 46.5% said YES. Imagine that...right here in the Mitten we're darn close to a plurality of support for same sex marriage. Knock me over with a feather, why don't you? I don't know about any of you, but this poll made my day.
Oh, but the news gets better:
Glengariff also measured support for: adoption rights (57.5%), same-sex partner benefits for government employees (65.5%), inheritance rights for gay and lesbian partners (70.9%) and recognition of same-sex marriages from other states (53.5%).
In other words, two thirds of the electorate now disagree with the fallout created by the most restrictive marriage amendment in the country and think that the state should be allowed to offer domestic partner benefits. Nearly sixty percent support allowing same-sex couples to adopt children together. Imagine getting two thirds of the electorate to agree on something like health care reform. This news is nothing short of earth-shattering. We may have lost the Proposition 8 fight in California that was supposed to have opened the floodgates of equality, but the floodgates are open anyway. LGBT families are winning acceptance all over the country, including right here in my backyard.
The next time I'm inclined to whine about incrementalism and waiting my turn and justice delayed being justice denied, someone please hit me upside the head with a copy of this poll. We like to taunt our foes by reminding them that people of my generation are much more accepting of LGBT people and remind them that we're winning this battle over time, but the proof is in these poll numbers. In five years the support for marriage equality has gone from the low twenties to the mid forties, and by the time we're ready to put it back on the ballot in 2012 we just may be looking at a marriage equality victory. Our opponents can cling to their outdated definitions of family and outmoded visions of the world for as long as they want, but the tides are against them and they know it.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to celebrate with a piece of cake...and then I'm going to go back to fighting for LGBT equality over at RainbowMittens.com. |
