Even as Mat Staver is ranting against gays and the GOP, a new poll suggest why Republicans are remaining more and more silent on the issues of gay rights in general and gay marriage in particular: the majority of Americans now support gay marriage and a plurality say they would not be upset to learn their child is gay. In short, preaching an anti-gay message is increasingly political poison unless one is address a gathering of Christofascists behind closed doors (as GOP Senate candidate Ed Gillespie is want to do). Like it or not, the Christofascists and politicians still willing to prostitute themselves to them are steadily losing the war against gays and one can only hope that soon they will be treat akin to segregationists and KKK members in decent circles. A piece from McClatchy Washington Bureau looks at the rapid sea change in views:
Americans are changing their minds about gays at a startling pace, driven by young people coming of age in a new era and by people of all ages increasingly familiar with gays and lesbians in their families and their lives, according to a new McClatchy-Marist Poll.
A solid majority support same-sex marriage, confirming the fast-turning tide that’s started appearing over the last three years. A majority say they wouldn’t be upset or very upset if a child were gay, up dramatically from a generation ago. And an overwhelming majority say it would make no difference to them if a candidate for Congress were gay, up sharply.
The sea change in attitudes is being propelled by two major forces, the poll found. First, people aged 18-29 overwhelmingly favor same-sex marriage. Second, the ranks of Americans who say they know someone who’s gay has skyrocketed over the last decade and a half. And those who know someone who’s gay are almost twice as likely to support same-sex marriage, the survey found.
There are still opponents. Republicans oppose same-sex marriage by better than 2-1. Tea party supporters oppose it by nearly 3-1. Those 60 and older are on the cusp, with 50 percent opposed.
While gays and lesbians have pushed for decades for equal rights, public opinion has changed only in the last few years and now is changing rapidly.
Adults now support same-sex marriage by 54-38 percent. For more than a decade, only about a third of Americans supported the idea, ranging from 27 percent in 1996, as measured by the Pew Research Center, to 35 percent in 2009. Support has increased steadily since then, however. In 2011, a plurality supported same-sex marriage for the first time. And in 2013, a majority of adults said for the first time that they favored it.
The most glaring sign of changing attitudes is generational:
– Those aged 18-29 favor same-sex marriage by 75-18 percent.
– Those aged 30-44 favor it 55-38 percent.
– Those aged 45-59 favor it 49-40.
– Those aged 60 and older oppose it 50-39.
By 71-27 percent, American adults say they know someone who’s gay. That’s a dramatic change from a generation ago, when a 1999 Pew poll found that Americans said by 60-39 percent that they didn’t know anyone who was gay.
Nearly half – 48 percent – said they wouldn’t be upset if one of their children told them they were gay, and 14 percent said they wouldn’t be very upset. Thirty-five percent said they’d be somewhat upset or very upset. It was the opposite three decades ago.
Eighty-three percent of adults said that whether someone was gay wouldn’t make a difference in whether they voted for that candidate. In December 1985, just 49 percent said it would make no difference, while 47 percent said they’d be less likely to vote for a candidate who was gay, according to the Los Angeles Times survey.
As Chief Justice Roberts considers staying the 4th Circuit's ruling striking down Virginia's gay marriage bans, one can only hope that he's read this data and realizes that actions against gay marriage will only further stigmatize Republicans and further discredit justices who support religious based bigotry. Antonin Scalia may not care how history views, but perhaps Roberts does.
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