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Monday, May 16, 2005

Public Warms to Gay Marriage/Civil Unions

Posted by Tim Tagaris

Today's Boston Globe reports that the public seems to be coming around to civil unions, if not even gay marriage as well. The piece lends credence to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's strategy memo circulated several months ago that calls for leadership, not ducking and running away, on divisive political issues that Democrats are on the correct side of. From the article:

Forty-six percent of respondents backed civil unions that would give gay couples ''some, but not all, of the legal rights of married couples" while 41 percent said they were opposed. [...]

Seventy-six percent of those surveyed predicted that all or some states will eventually join Massachusetts in legalizing gay marriage. Forty-one percent said sex between people of the same gender is ''always wrong," but that figure is down from 58 percent in a 1998 survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. And 79 percent of respondents said gays should be allowed to serve openly in the military, up from 57 percent in a 2000 Opinion Dynamics Poll.

I don't think this will surprise anyone, but the article indicates that people of younger generations are much more accepting of gay marriage and civil unions. And while 50% of Americans surveyed disapprove of gay marriage, a whopping 48% either approve (37%) or are neutral (11%) on the subject. MoE on the survey is 3.6%

Posted at 09:22 AM in Democrats | Technorati