Gay Marriage Same Sex Unions

Gay Marriage

Same sex unions have been in existence for thousands of years. From the Ming Dynasty's Fujian custom of male-male bindings (Hinsch, 1992) to Native American alternative genders to the traditional male and female (Roscoe, 1998), gay marriage is not a new concept. However, in America, gay marriage has only become a notable issue within the last decade. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional, adding fuel to the fire that is the national debate over gay marraiges ("An overview," 2008). Despite the historical prevalence of gay unions around the globe, in America, constitutionally recognized gay marriages, in the traditional sense of the term 'marriage', are not likely to be accepted nationally, instead civil unions between same sex couples are far more likely.

Gay Marriage

Introduction:

Same sex unions have been in existence for thousands of years. From the Ming Dynasty's Fujian custom of male-male bindings (Hinsch, 1992) to Native American alternative genders to the traditional male and female (Roscoe, 1998), gay marriage is not a new concept. However, in America, gay marriage has only become a notable issue within the last decade. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional, adding fuel to the fire that is the national debate over gay marraiges ("An overview," 2008). Despite the historical prevalence of gay unions around the globe, in America, constitutionally recognized gay marriages, in the traditional sense of the term 'marriage', are not likely to be accepted nationally, instead civil unions between same sex couples are far more likely.

Historical Background on the Gay Marriage Debate:

Although gay rights activists have been demanding the right for gays to marry since the 1960s, it wasn't until 1993 when Hawaii's Supreme Court ruled that an existing state law that banned gay marriage was unconstitutional, unless the state could show compelling reason for discriminating against same-sex marriages. This decision did not legalize gay marriage in Hawaii, but it did result in more than 40 states passing what are known as Defense of Marriage Acts, to prevent a similar finding in their own state. These Acts specifically define marriage solely as the union between a man and a woman. In 1996, then President Bill Clinton signed a federal Defense of Marriage Act into federal law that not only asserted that marriage, in the federal sense, was to be a union between a man and a woman, but also that no state could be forced to recognize a same-sex marriage that had been performed in another state. As many states scrambled to put anti-gay marriage legislation on the books, Vermont's Supreme Court ruled that gays and lesbians had every right to the benefits and protections that come from a marriage, but allowed the legislature to determine how to grant these rights. In 2000, Vermont granted the right of civil unions to gay and lesbian couples, giving them the same rights and benefits, as well as responsibilities, as a married heterosexual couple, although without the technical marriage ("An overview," 2008). Yet, despite all of this political upheaval, public opinion on the matter of gay marriage has changed little over the years.

Public Opinion of Gay Marriage:

Since Massachusetts' declaration that the state ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, in 2003, public opinion has remained fairly stable. A survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & Press found that 53% of Americans opposed gay marriage in the summer of 2003. In August 2007, this figure had only changed marginally, with 55% of Americans opposing gay marriage in an updated Pew survey. Furthermore, the 2007 survey found that 36% of those surveyed favored gay and lesibian marriages, which was almost identical to the percentage of those in favor of gay marriage in 2003 ("A stable majority," 2008). Figure 1 shows the percentage of those in favor and opposed to allowing gay marriage, from 1996 through August 2007 (See Figure 1).

Figure 1: Views on Allowing Gays and Lesbians to Marry

(Source: "A stable majority," 2008)

It was also found that feeling about gay marriage were closely linked, like many other social issues, with ideology, partisanship, and religion. Looking to several data sources, it was found that political affiliation had a strong impact on whether or not an individual supported or opposed gay marriage. Only 26% of self-described liberal Democrats were opposed to gay marriage. In contrast, 83% of conservative Republicans were against making gay marriage legal. Survey respondents that identified themselves as independents were divided nearly equally on the issue, with 49% opposed to gay marriage and 41% in favor of it ("A stable majority," 2008). Religion too has a significant impact on an individual's view on allowing gays and lesbians to marry.

It was found that individuals who attend worship services once a week or more were much more likely to be against gay marriage, with 73% reporting to be in opposition. Forty-three percent were found to be opposed to gay marriage when they reported they attended worship services less often. Interestingly, depending on the type of religion, the opinion of gay marriage varies greatly. Eighty-one percent of white evangelicals and 79% of black evangelicals reported to be opposed to gay marriage. In contrast, Catholics and mainline Protestants were more evenly divided. Forty-nine percent of white, non-Hispanic Catholics were opposed to gay marriage, while 47% of white, non-Hispanic mainline Protestants were opposed to gay marriage. The results were similar across race when investigating the effect of religion, with fifty-two percent of Hispanic Catholics being opposed to gay marriage. This is a similar figure to white, non-Hispanic Catholics ("A stable majority," 2008). Figure 2 demonstrates these differences. As Olson, Cadge, and Harrison (2006) noted, although religion may affect whether an individual supports or opposes gay marriage, it does not factor in as heavily on whether or not a person supports an actual constitutional ban on gay marriage, with individuals being less likely to support a ban, than simply oppose gay marriage. Age too affects the likelihood of an individual to be opposed to gay marriage.

Older Americans were more opposed to gay marriage, with 67% of those age 65 and older reporting their opposition. This is in contrast to the 49% of adults under the age of 30 who report being opposed to allowing gays and lesbians to marry ("A stable majority," 2008). As more and more Baby Boomers hit retirement age,

Figure 2: Opposition of Gay Marriage by Political and Religious Affiliation

(Source: "A stable majority," 2008)

this demographic will certainly have a significant impact on preventing gay marriage from becoming legal in the United States. Although differences are found in these same demographic areas, of politics and religion, when investigating opinions about civil unions, the result is different.

Public Opinion of Civil Unions:

Despite the fact that a majority of Americans are against gay marriage, a similarly sized majority do support civil unions that give legal rights to gay couples without the technical title of being married. Fifty-four percent of Americans, according to a Pew poll in August 2006, are in support of civil unions, while only 42% oppose them for gay and lesbian couples. Unlike figures for opinions on gay marriages, this support has been growing slowly over the last few years. In October 2003, 45% of survey respondents were in favor of implementing civil unions for gay couples, as an option other than gay marriage. By August 2004, that figure had climbed to 48%. In July 2005, 53% of respondents indicated that they were in favor of civil unions for gays and lesbians, with this percentage nearly identical, at 54%, in July 2006 ("A stable majority," 2008). Interestingly, although religious affiliation affected these figures, as religion did with public opinion of gay marriage, this support also varied greatly by geographic region.

Those in the West were most in favor of gay civil unions, with 66% reporting being in favor. The residents of the East also showed strong support, with 62% favoring gay civil unions. The South and the Midwest, however, showed significant differences. Only 46% of respondents from the South favored civil unions, with the Midwest having the lowest percentage of support, with 40% in favor ("A stable majority," 2008). With the higher population densities of the East and West coast, it's not surprising that a majority of Americans are in favor of giving gays and lesbians rights similar to marriage, without the title. As mentioned, religious affiliation and attendance too had a significant impact on whether or not an individual favored gay civil unions.

For those who attended religious services once or more per week, only 36% were in favor of civil unions for gay couples. This is in comparison to 67% who are in support, but attend services less often. Only 30% of white evangelicals and 35 black Protestants support civil unions. However, 66% of white mainline Protestants, 63% of Catholics, and 78% of unaffiliated respondents said they believed gay couples should be granted rights, benefits and responsibilities under civil unions ("A stable majority," 2008). These percentages are illustrated in Figure 3.

Interestingly, research has demonstrated that the when public opinion is sought between "gay marriage" and "civil union" the results differed greatly. Although the rights being suggested were similar, when framed as gay marriage, the discussions became polarized along ideological lines, than when framed as civil unions ("Framing," n.d.). Clearly individuals were less threatened by the idea of civil unions than gay marraiges, even if the details of the two concepts were similar. However, Craig, Martinez, Kane, and Gainous (2005) found that many individuals were ambivalent to gay rights issues. With the polarized nature of gay rights, these researchers found that individuals most often had differing viewpoints depending on what the specific topic of gay rights involved, with both positive and negative opinions.