LGBT News Most foresee legal recognition of gay marriage

About 72% of Americans say that legal recognition of same-sex marriage is "inevitable," a new survey finds.

About 72% of Americans say legal recognition of same-sex marriage is "inevitable," a survey released today finds.

This number includes 85% of same-sex marriage supporters as well as 59% of its opponents, according to the Pew Research Center's survey. The telephone survey was conducted May 1-5 among 1,504 U.S. adults. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

"As more states legalize gay marriage or give equal status, the question in our minds was how the public sees the trajectory on this issue," says Michael Dimock, the report's lead author and director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. "Do they see a future in which gay marriage is going to be the rule, not the exception, in American society?"

For the first time in Pew polling, just over half (51%) of Americans favor allowing gay men and lesbians to marry legally, the report says.

The survey found a strong link between personal experiences and attitudes about homosexuality. About 87% of Americans know someone who is gay or lesbian, compared with 61% in 1993. About 68% of those who know a lot of people who are gay or lesbian favor same-sex marriage, compared with 32% of those who don't know anyone.

Rick Rosendall, president of the non-profit Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C., says, "As for the gay marriage issue, it's not about whether we will have families. We already do. It's about whether we will enjoy the same protection as our siblings, neighbors and co-workers. The more people recognize that their siblings, neighbors and co-workers include gay men and lesbians, the clearer it is that those family members, neighbors and co-workers should be treated the same as they are."

Same-sex marriage is or will be legal in 12 states and the District of Columbia. Several states have domestic-partnership provisions for same-sex couples.

This survey is part of the "LGBT in Changing Times" series, which is focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage.

Report: Most foresee legal recognition of gay marriage

 

I think it is now inevitable