The End Is Near for the Anti-Gay Activists
(I cross-posted this at my own blog)
A recent Gallup poll shows that the time has come for the anti-gay activists to hang up their hatred, or at least move it on to another, less fortunate group.
Here is what part of the survey had to say:
PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, conducted each May, finds current public tolerance for gay rights at the high-water mark of attitudes recorded over the past three decades. There is still considerable public opposition to complete equality for gays, particularly with respect to marriage. However, after several years of lower support for gay rights, support is now springing back to the relatively high levels seen in 2003, just before the Supreme Court’s June 26, 2003, decision striking down a Texas sodomy law. (According to Gallup trends, that ruling appeared to produce a backlash of public opposition to gay rights.)
The clearest example of the recent renewal in pro-gay rights attitudes comes from a question asking Americans whether they believe homosexual relations should be legal. Public tolerance for this aspect of gay rights expanded from 43% at the inception of the question in 1977 to 60% in May 2003. Then in July 2003, it fell to 50% and remained at about that level through 2005. Last year, it jumped to 56% and this year it reached 59%, similar to the 2003 high point.
Here are some of the results:
Spectrum of Support for Gay Rights^
May 10-13, 2007Yes No
% %
Homosexuals should have equal rights
in terms of job opportunities 89 8Homosexual relations should be legal 59 37
Homosexuality should be considered
an acceptable alternative lifestyle 57 39Homosexual relations are morally acceptable 47 49
Same-sex marriages should be legally valid 46 53
^ See tables for full wording of each item/question.
Morality Question Closely Divides Americans
Results on the perceived morality of homosexual relations present a glass half-full/half-empty analysis conundrum. On the one hand, the percentage saying such relations are morally acceptable has clearly grown over the last several years, from 40% in 2001, when the question was first asked, to 47% today. This is the first year that an outright majority of Americans have not said homosexual relations are morally wrong.
Summary of Moral Acceptability Ratings
May 10-13, 2007Morally
acceptable Morally
wrong
Acceptable Wrong
The death penalty 66 27
Divorce 65 26
Medical research using stem cells obtained from human embryos 64 30
Gambling 63 32
Medical testing on animals 59 37
Sex between an unmarried man and woman 59 38
Buying and wearing clothing made of animal fur 58 38
Having a baby outside of marriage 54 42
Doctor-assisted suicide 49 44
Homosexual relations 47 49
Abortion 40 51
Cloning animals 36 59
Suicide 16 78
Cloning humans 11 86
Polygamy, when one husband has more than one wife at the same time 8 90
Married men and women having an affair 6 91
Let’s look at a few of these–so 49% of these people who took the poll think homosexual relations are morally wrong, and yet 65% think divorce is morally acceptable. Do you think they base their beliefs on the bible for both? They can’t–since God hates divorce and Christ does not allow it. And 66% think the death penalty is morally acceptable, and yet one of the beloved Ten Commandments state that You shall not Kill. Therefore the beliefs that people hold have little to do with religion, and I think more with what they are taught to think.
This is my favorite part of the poll, which shows that the work of someone like Peter LaBarbera, who has spent his entire adult life fighting against the homosexual agenda, is worth nothing:
Homosexuality as an Acceptable
Alternative Lifestyle
May 10-13, 2007Yes No
% %
Men 53 44
Women 61 35
18-34 years 75 23
35-54 years 58 39
55+ years 45 51
Republican 36 58
Independent 60 36
Democrat 72 27
Worship services
Attend weekly 33 64
Attend nearly weekly/monthly 57 40
Attend less often/never 74 22
This proves that the end is near for the views that LaBarbera and Harp and all the other anti-gay activists hold. A majority of both men and women support gays and lesbians. The older generation does not, but the great news is that a whopping 75% of 18-34 year olds do! In a generation the acceptability of anti-gay statements will be wiped out and people like LaBarbera and Harp will be remembered as we remember the KKK.
A full 89% of adults think that gays and lesbians should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities. This percentage has been 80% and above since 1993–although you would not know it with all the screaming that the anti-gay crowd has been doing over the proposed ENDA legislation.
We’ve won, or at least we will win this ‘cultural war’ (a favorite catch-phrase of the anti-gay crowd–I personally do not think this is a cultural war) very soon. Maybe it is time for LaBarbera to start thinking about what group he wants to devote his senior years to fighting against–a good bet will be against minority rights because very soon it is going to be very unpopular to be an anti-gay crusader…
RSS 31. May 2007 (15:41)Filed under: Uncategorized
