When LifeWay Research, a Christian polling firm connected to the Southern Baptist Convention, conducted its poll on attitudes toward same-sex marriage, they probably didn’t expect to find that nearly two-thirds of Americans think its inevitable—whether they support it or not.
According to a survey of 1,191 U.S. adults, 64% believe federal marriage equality is coming, like it or lump it.
“We’re kind of in a national conversation about, not just the issue of marriage and homosexuality, but really how our culture responds both to shifting views on the issue and views that aren’t shifting,” said pollster Ed Stetzer.
Even conservative crony Newt Gingrich has said more states extending marriage rights to gay couples was “inevitable,” and you know he’s not happy about that.
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The data reveals that women (61%), those with college educations (65%), and those under 30 (65%) are more likely to agree that sexual orientation is a civil-rights issue like gender race and age. “The research does show lines and divisions on these issues clearly exist in our country,” Stetzer said.
Other findings from the poll, which was weighted by region, age, ethnicity, gender and education level:
* 63% believe clergy should be allowed to refuse to officiate over same-sex weddings. (That percentage jumps to 74% for people who identify as “Born Again, evangelical, or fundamentalist Christian”
* 58% believe photographers should be able to reject gay couples (in contrast, 72% of fundamentalists do).
* 40% believe rental halls should be able to refuse to book same-sex weddings (compared to the 57% of fundamentalists who feel that way).
* 20% believe landlords should be able to reject gay tenants and 14% said employers should be able to discriminate against homosexuals.
* Men are more likely than women to agree these individuals should have the right to refuse services, rental agreements, or employment
* Americans age 65 and older are more likely to agree (37%) that landlords should be allowed to refuse to rent housing to same-sex couples.
Dakotahgeo
Sounds like the Fundies/Baptists/connservatives will be going through a lot more Depends in the near future. 😉
DarkZephyr
I hope that they are right. I want DOMA to be repealed in June. Then I can marry the man I love. <3
1EqualityUSA
America encompasses all the countries from Canada down. The United States is a section of America and, yes, our Constitution will not allow heterosexuals to discriminate against other citizens, just because….”They’re icky.”
rand503
This actually good news. Only 63% believe a clergyman should be able to refuse to officiate at a gay marriage. I would have thought that to be closer to 100%. The other results are equally remarkable.
gaym50ish
It is disturbing, however, that so many people still think a business that serves the public should be allowed to refuse to serve some part of the public. I thought we settled that issue in the 1950s with the lunch-counter sit-ins in the South. And some businesses that have refused gay couples recently have been found to have violated anti-discrimination laws.
A church or a pastor can refuse to join a couple for two reasons — 1) they’re a private organization like the Boy Scouts, not a “public accommodation”; and 2) freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
A company serving the public should not have the same right of refusal. There are exceptions, such as a bartender refusing to serve a drunk or an airline asking an unruly passenger to get off the plane.
Dionte
I don’t want to patronize people who are against me anyway as far as businesses are concerned, so I’d rather know who they are and go somewhere else. The bigots will eventually become a minority.
Windsor519
As someone who lives in Canada, while I am excited for the US to see equal marriage, I am concerned with some comments I hear – the ‘freedom to get married’ is great, if there’s someone to marry. It’s not going to magically bring you a partner or somehow increase the odds that gay people are learning how to have relationships without walking away after a few months. If anything it’s another reminder that, sure, it’s legal, but without anyone who has the experience of being in a relationship that lasts, has mutual interests, is willing to come out so you can meet him…doesn’t bode well for the gay men out there who aren’t finding anyone, or those who hate each other because our expectations are pretty unrealistic based on the small percentage of men to select from…it just seems odd to me that so many gay couples, when they discover it’s serious, want to ‘get away from other gay people’ because they either feel a potential threat, or feel the gay community is so toxic it’s going to ruin their relationship. That says a lot about where we are at as a community. And as far as marriage goes, gay civil rights have a lot more to do with issues such as hate crimes, poverty, homelessness, addictions, isolation…at least when you are a couple seeking to get married you have two people who love each other…gay people alone in their addictions or life crises have nobody, and it’s really too bad that all this money going to gay marriage doesn’t trickle down a little bit towards helping gay people who are alone and without help.