Supporting same-sex marriage: to know is to accept?
A Gallup Poll on acceptance of same-sex marriage came out soon after the terrible news of California Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold Prop 8 (also known as Prop-H8). The poll shows that those who know someone who is gay are significantly more supportive of gay marriage than those who do not.
There are two explanations for this relationship. One is the contact hypothesis, stating that exposure leads to greater tolerance. And there’s the other direction of causality, suggesting that if you are more accepting of this group then you are more likely to put yourself in a situation in which you are exposed to this group (like living in San Francisco). I imagine a similar poll from the civil rights era would show similar findings: those who knew blacks were more supportive of equal rights. Let’s just hope one day we look back at this the same way.
I have HAD IT. I refuse to comply with our government in ANY way until my loved ones and I are EQUAL. Taxes? Jury Duty? F-that. Not until I am treated with the SAME respect and given the SAME civil law access that others have.
We need to STOP acting UN-equal. NOW.
Here’s my personall message for the White House:
http://gaytaxprotest.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/connect-the-dots-revised-for-obama/
johnbisceglia
June 9, 2009 at 6:44 PM
John, your tax resistance message is spot on. It’s in the spirit if Henry Thoreau (and how he advocated the abolishment of slavery & the end to the Mexican-American war). This peacful protest is also in line with MLK and Gandhi, who achieved great success in pushing change peacefully. It’s a little strange, then, when you mix this with the implication on your site that there will be “pure rage on property and citizens” if you don’t get what you want. I mean, I get the passion and all – but I think this is a bit much, no?
As I said on my other post, this issue needs to take into account the issue of religion. It’s not as easy as saying “this is just like race discrimination” because it’s not. Prop 8 is coming from people who genuinely believe it is against the bible to allow same-sex couples to marry. While we might quibble with this based on our own views of religious hypocrisy, let’s address this head-on as it’s what the prop-8 crowd are emphatically stating.
Why is this important? Because BOTH religion and sexual orientation are protected by title 7.
In my view, then, opposition to prop 8 needs to be framed in a way that the resolution allows churches and individuals to still choose whether or not they want to perform / recognize a gay marriage (because otherwise you’d have a title 7 violation). In the same breath, opponents of prop 8 would be asking the govt. to dictate that non-religious institutions are required to acknowledge, and afford every right, to individuals in a gay marriage.
Frankly, I think this boils down to talking with key church leaders to address their concerns, peacefully drawing the distinction between what they want and what churches want, and pushing change that way. In a recent convesation I had with a church leader, I was struck by how much concern they had to what will be taught in schools. I think this stemmed from a confusion as to what prop 8 opponents wanted, and could be addressed by the two sides talking to each other.
Is this palatable for militant opponents of prop 8? Maybe not. But I’d argue that it’s in line with the spirit of Harvey Milk. And it’s less inflammatory to people’s religious views than how proponents of prop 8 are depicted by the opposition.
holland
June 9, 2009 at 10:20 PM