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At a time when Massachusetts legislators are scrambling to amend their state's Constitution to ban gay marriages and President Bush supports a federal constitutional amendment to do the same, it is worth recalling the enormous strides made in tolerance toward gay men and lesbians on a wide range of other issues in recent years. The trend gives some reason to hope that gay marriage will eventually be deemed acceptable and no threat to heterosexual Americans.
The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research and advocacy group, has been collecting poll results on gay issues going back three decades. The numbers document a profound change in attitudes, most strikingly on employment issues but also in areas like adoption rights, legal benefits and acceptance of gay relations.
Although Congress and the Pentagon have balked at letting gays serve openly in the military, a Gallup poll last year found that an astonishing 80 percent of the respondents thought gays should be allowed in the armed forces, up from only 51 percent in 1977. Approval for hiring gay teachers for elementary schools jumped to 61 percent from 27 percent over the same period. Most gay athletes may be afraid to identify themselves publicly, but fully 86 percent of the public thinks that they should be hired for professional sports. A majority of the public thinks gays are just fine as members of the clergy, and three-fifths say they would vote for a well-qualified gay presidential candidate.
There are lots of theories to explain these more tolerant attitudes. Our own guess is that as more and more gays have acknowledged their sexual orientation, straight Americans have come to see that gays are not deviants to be feared, but valued friends, neighbors and colleagues who are not much different from anyone else. Sadly, the poll data shows little easing of opposition to gay marriages in recent years, with roughly three-fifths or more of the public still opposed. That opposition might melt away if some state had the courage to legalize gay marriage and everyone could see that it posed no threat whatever to heterosexual unions.
Their is hope for our future.
"Be excellent to each other, and, party on dudes"!
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