Headline: "Most Americans Oppose Same-Sex Marriage"

[Bertha Venation]

This is the headline on CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/04/10/poll.samesex.ap/index.html

From the article on cnn.com:

"By a margin of 55 to 41 percent, those polled agreed with the statement that 'if gays are allowed to marry, the institution of marriage will be degraded.'

"About half favored a U.S. constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman, while 42 percent opposed it, according to the poll published Saturday on the newspaper's Web site.

"The telephone poll of 1,616 adults around the country was conducted from March 27-30. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points."

On the L.A. Times' web site, the headline to the story about their poll reads "Stigma Against Gays Fading, Survey Finds"
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-adna-gaypoll11apr11,1,1578845.story?coll=la-home-headlines

From the article on latimes.com:

"But John P. DeCecco, editor of a quarterly publication in San Francisco called the Journal of Homosexuality, characterized the growing tolerance as 'an uneasy acceptance.'

"Heterosexuals remain 'very sensitive as to whether their friends and colleagues are gay,' said DeCecco, a 79-year-old professor emeritus at San Francisco State University who for decades taught classes on sexuality.

"But 'there is less rejection on that basis than there has been in the past,' he said. 'They would not make that the only basis for rejection.'

"The tenuous nature of the new tolerance is reflected by the angst over same-sex marriage, DeCecco said. In The Times Poll, just 24% of respondents said gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry. Another 38% said gays and lesbians should be allowed to form civil unions but not marry, and 34% said same-sex couples should not be allowed to marry or form civil unions."

Here's a link to the poll results themselves. http://images.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2004-04/12175187.pdf

How can anyone take the results of asking a few questions of 1,600 people and then say "THUS SAITH THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES -- ALL 300 MILLION OF 'EM!"

Now someone tell me that CNN is "fair & balanced." I say they are, in the same way that Fox News is.

:grr:

[boobooday]

1. Remember the source

The same people who tell us that an approval rating of 50% makes Bush a "popular wartime president."

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[BlueJazz]

2. If somebody told me that....

....fact, my answer would be: "Yeah, well..50 Percent of Americans are
brain-dead enough to vote for an idiot for President...so what does that say about their intelligence?"

[DietVanillaCoke]

3. How about...

Marriage is a religious institution and should be recognized as such, with the government only recognizing civil unions?

[cosmicdot]

8. so, the government shouldn't recognize 'marriages' for special rights

i.e., tax benefits, etc.?

As if we can believe a 'poll' ... I go with Jefferson's words ...


All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

[SheilaT]

4. Well, if you don't believe in same sex marriage

(and by the way, is this anything like believing in God, or believing the Royals will win the World Series this year?) then don't marry someone of the same sex. What's so hard about that?

Sort of like, if you don't believe in abortion, then don't have one. And make sure you are never responsible for one happening if you're a guy.

[mulethree]

5. skew?

This is a phone poll, so presumably it does not include people who hang up on pollsters. I wonder if the difference of opinion between the population in general, and the sub-population who bother with phone polls, and the sub-population who vote is within 3%?

[Ysabel]

6. i think the numbers...

are more like 65% - 75% of people are fine with gay marriages...

[Blue-Jay]

7. Possible "bright side":

I'd wager that if the same question were asked 20 years ago, the results would have been much worse. I'm not quite yet an "oldster", but I've witnessed quite a change in attitudes towards GLBT issues. I wish that the evolution of thought would happen faster, but we (as a nation) are slow to deal with changes.

55% disapproval isn't good, but it's better. My heart goes out to my gay friends here and in person for the disgusting bigotry that they are forced to endure, but it's getting better. Slowly, but surely it's getting better.

Some will always resist that which they don't understand. That said, the more exposure these issues get, the more people will start to "get it".

Hope that made sense. Peace.