Some interesting demographic findings were reported by the New
York Times in "Opposition
to Gay Marriage Is Declining, Study Finds" by Robin Toner.
According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the
Press:
53% of respondents said they opposed gay marriages, while 38% said they backed them. In 1996 65% said they opposed such marriages, while 27% favored the idea.
That reveals surprisingly rapid progress. But the research also showed "a growing gap in opinion -- along racial and religious lines." Specifically:
White evangelical Protestants were the most firmly opposed to the idea of gay marriage: 83% said they opposed it; 84% opposed it in 1996. Opposition among blacks also remained essentially unchanged, with 64% opposing gay marriages today, and 65% opposing the idea in 1996.
In contrast, white Roman Catholics and white mainline Protestants have become increasingly open to the idea, according to the poll" .
The evangelical finding isn't surprising. But the unchanged opposition among blacks suggest that the efforts of gay progressive activists to build a united coalition of the left, fighting homophobia and racism and promoting big government social programs, hasn't quite moved the masses. Gay activists may be obsessed with "building an anti-racist GLBT movement" (as the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force puts it) and lamenting that "The GLBT movement is"disproportionately led by white people and lacks a consciousness of the intersections of racism and homophobia"", but there has been no corresponding commitment within the African-American community to combat homophobia.
Not Helpful.
"Critics of gay marriage say we"ll destroy the entire
institution. Maybe they"re right, and maybe it wouldn't be such a
bad thing," is the subhead the Washington Blade gave to an
op-ed by lesbian law professor Nancy D. Polikoff. To be fair,
Polikoff herself never uses those exact words, but she does
argue
that "Gay marriage will move us in the wrong direction if it limits
legal recognition to married couples only."
Polikoff wants state benefits for a variety of unmarried partners, including siblings or friends that care for each other, or even a son who takes care of his mother. But that misses the point. Marriage is much more than just a domestic partnership, which is why the anti-gays want to keep us out. The lesbigay left just doesn't get that marriage is important.
School Days
New York City is opening a
full-fledged high school for gay and lesbian (and bisexual and
transgender) students.
Which, of course, has the anti-gays hopping mad.
I'm for school choice and support a safe environment for those
gay kids who might need it. But I suppose I'd prefer a privately
run school, with the state using its education taxes to provide
students with tuition vouchers. I just don't trust the state
educrats.
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