LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.  
 
July 5, 2009
Log in / Register

 Choose a size
Text Size

Most Read

The Age of Paine

Designer Vaginas: Is Female Circumcision Coming Out of the Closet?

Dependence Day

Palin Will Step Down as Alaska's Governor

Cynthia McKinney Detained in Israel

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports
The Age of Paine
A Doctor in the House
The Battle Over the Burqa

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture
Mark A. Fischer on Joe Torre

Digs
Financial Meltdown 101
Vetting Sarah Palin

Truthdig Bazaar
Print Thumbnail

Exit Strategy

Mr. Fish
$90/$250

more items

 
Ear to the Ground

Gay Marriage Scare Wears Thin

Email this item Email    Print this item Print   
Posted on Oct 14, 2006
Lesbian wedding
flickr/Coffee Monster

In the 2004 election, anti-gay ballot measures effectively drew conservatives to the ballot box, but the appeal of banning gay marriage is wearing off, polls suggest.


New York Times:

Recent polls in Arizona, Colorado, Virginia and Wisconsin, for example, have suggested only narrow majorities in support, in contrast to the 60 to 70 percent or more majorities in most states that voted on the issue in 2004. Two recent polls in South Dakota suggested that the same-sex marriage amendment might actually lose, while a third said it seemed likely to pass.

“As it stands right now, conservative turnout is not going to be as strong as it has traditionally been,” said Jon Paul, the executive director of Coloradans for Marriage, which is supporting a ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage.

Some pollsters say people might just be burned out on the subject of marriage and its boundaries.

Link

Jump to Comments

Advertisement


Elsewhere: .

Comments

Are you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.

By yea, March 16, 2007 at 4:32 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

you know i dont believe people are born gay i believe people choose to be gay. i know alot of gay guys and girls that has told me they chose to be gay. Its there choose on what kind of people make then happy. Just because some people make fun of gays doesnt stop them because they are actuly happy liking the same sex. Its what their enviroment is and what they gone threw… for example a girl has been blown off by a guy then now she choose to be gay. A guy i knew has actuly gone out with couple of girls and turned some of them gay maybe its the way the guys/girls have been that changes girls/guys minds that well… guys r so much sweeter or i think ill just stick with girls there more sensitive . some might be from experience so i dont believe people are born to be gay i believe people choose to be gay or strait

Report this

By John U., October 15, 2006 at 9:04 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

I guess people are catching on to what a non-issue this is. It’s been legal now in Massachusettes for 3 years and there hasn’t been the predicted by hysterical christian /conservatives social upheavals, plagues, famines, etc…...people are still getting along, and, in fact maybe things are even better that they were.

Report this

By C Quil, October 15, 2006 at 2:23 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

According to a Seattle newspaper, married couples are, for the first time, in a minority in the U.S. People are abandoning the institution in droves.

How does this connect with the gay marriage issue? I’m not sure, but it could be interesting.

Report this

By R. A. Earl, October 14, 2006 at 11:30 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

“You have nothing to fear but fear itself.” I’m sure most Americans have heard this many times. It’s a catchy, memorable statement that communicates a great deal of truth.

So why do so many Americans either not understand it or choose to ignore it’s message? Does a large proportion of the population still ignorantly believe to be “gay” is somehow CONTAGIOUS - that homosexuality is some sort of PLAGUE or DISEASE? Perhaps these fearful folk think that being “gay” is so much more fun than being “straight” that if they “approved” then EVERYONE WOULD TURN GAY!

“Gay” people have never and likely will never comprise more than a small percentage of the population. Even “gay” people will acknowledge that the “norm” is for living things to be heterosexual in orientation and practise otherwise there probably wouldn’t be many living things. Even “gay” people have no idea WHY they’re “gay” instead of “straight” but one thing’s FOR SURE, FOLKS… gay people don’t CHOOSE TO BE GAY. They just ARE. Get over it.

But why do so many people INSIST that ALL living things be THE SAME? Why isn’t even a small amount of diversity - “ABnormality” if you must - tolerated… even ENJOYED and VALUED in society? Does EVERYONE have to view life through the same lens and behave like a robot in a colony of StarTrek BORGS? DIVERSITY is REQUIRED by nature otherwise we’d have no need for sexual reproduction… women, having no need for men,  could just have babies whenever they wished… and all the babies would look and act the same. What a WONDERFUL WORLD! Gag! Boring!

Why are so many blind to the FACT that almost ALL ADVANCES in the arts, technology, science, etc., can be directly attributed to the work of someone who thought differently from the “norm” - who likely WAS DIFFERENT FROM the “norm?”

So many people seem to think along the lines of… “if I don’t like broccoli then NO ONE SHOULD.” Why is the prejudice - HETEROSEXISM (the simple-minded notion that everyone IS heterosexual OR SHOULD BE) - so resistant to extinction in a modern, informed, educated body politic? Remember - “you’ve got to be TAUGHT to HATE” and FEAR - it doesn’t come naturally! Ask WHY you’ve been taught to fear “gay” people.

It’s wonderful that it seems likely that increasing numbers of “normal” people are beginning to THINK using their brains instead of their learned prejudices and are beginning to realize that many people who are DIFFERENT are EXTREMELY VALUABLE in society and that throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a really stupid thing to do to themselves.

Report this

By Mad As Hell, October 14, 2006 at 9:05 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

My only problem with Gay Marriage is that I thought the STRATEGY of legalizing it was ill-conceived. 

The lessons of Thurgood Marshall’s legal actions that lead to Brown vs. Board, and from that to throwing out ALL race-based Jim Crow laws was ignored and abandoned.  Instead, by going for the whole enchilda, the christo-fascists were given an issue to mobilize their base.

Somehow, the word “marriage” has connotations that meant both sides wouldn’t abandon it. There are lots of legal relations possible between people of the same sex.  Rather than build a HUGE foundation where everything but the word “marriage” was already in place so it would be a tiny step,  it was, instead, made much more significant and a rallying factor.

There was the “eeew” and “ech” factor that couldn’t be overcome so quickly.  Even Liberals for a VERY long time were anti-Gay.  As we’ve learned with time, so we’ve learned that what happily consenting adults do together is nobody’s business.  I decided years ago that in all issues, my brain, my logic, my morality MUST reign supreme. To be consistent to myself, I have to be consistent in my logic.

So I have NO problem with the concept of Gay Marriage itself.  It directly contradicts the Christo-fascist assertions that Gays are 1) Promiscuous 2) Recruiting, like they were a political party 3) fundamentally after young boys.

As we see this pervert Mark Foley at the focus of the whirlwind, the facade has been stripped from the Christo-Fascists and the Republicans:

Gays are not perverts, any more than Straights. Period.

Perverts are PREDOMINANTLY Straights, but some, like Foley, are Gay.

So if Gays want to bind themselves to each other for life, in sickness and health, forsaking all others, till death, well why is that anything but a GOOD THING?

And, if their success rate exceeds the dismal 50% rate of Straight couples, that will be something they can point to!

Report this

Add Your Comment

Posts by unregistered readers are moderated. Posts by members
are published immediately. Why wait? Register today!





Notify you when others comment on this article?


Are you a human?
Retype the word you see here.


Please read and abide by our comment policy.
By submitting this comment, you agree to this site's terms and conditions.

 
Click here to learn more about Truthdig
 

 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
Copyright © 2009 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.