A survey commissioned by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) shows that most Americans favor partner rights for same sex couples, allowing gay Americans to openly serve in the military, and oppose laws that ban adoption by gay and lesbian couples. Word.
Some more stats from the survey:
* Three-quarters of U.S. adults (75%) favor either marriage or domestic partnerships/civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Only about two in 10 (22%) say gay and lesbian couples should have no legal recognition. (Gay and lesbian couples are able to marry in two states, and comprehensive civil union or domestic partnership laws exist in only five others and the District of Columbia.)* U.S. adults are now about evenly divided on whether they support allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry (47% favor to 49% oppose).
* Almost two-thirds (64%) of U.S. adults favor allowing openly gay military personnel to serve in the armed forces. (The current "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law bans military service by openly gay personnel.)
* About six in 10 (63%) U.S. adults favor expanding hate crime laws to cover gay and transgender people. (Hate crimes laws cover gay and transgender people in 11 states and the District of Columbia, and an additional - 20 states' laws cover sexual orientation but not gender identity.)
* A slight majority of U.S. adults (51%) favor protecting gay and transgender people under existing laws that prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. (Existing non-discrimination laws cover gay and transgender people in only 12 states and the District of Columbia, and eight other states' laws cover sexual orientation but not gender identity.)
* Nearly seven out of 10 U.S. adults (69%) oppose laws that would ban qualified gay and lesbian couples from adopting children. (In several states, gay and lesbian couples are banned from adopting.)
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Just a few years ago, the majority opposed any legal recognition for same-sex couples. Things are changing fast.
I don't know if you guys have seen this yes, but it is a video called Prop 8 The Musical. It's a really amusing and interesting way of calling out the religious right for their inappropriately hateful response to Prop 8. http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones
Either these people don't vote or they don't care enough about the distinction between a ban on gay marriage and a ban on gay marriage *or recognition* to vote differently.
While I definitely hope the results are true, the statistician in me is looking at who commissioned the survey and thinking the results are probably biased, possibly quite strongly.
Be great if I'm wrong, though.
I thought the same. If this is the case, why are things still working against gays, lesbians and the transgedered?