Gay Marriage: Simply A Generational Issue?

Recent polling has shown that there is an overwhelming age gap on the issue of gay marriage.

A Polling Point survey on gay marriage found that 70% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 support marriage equality. But Support for gay marriage fell to 32% among those 65 year and older.

Is it this simple? Will gay marriage become less and less of an issue as older generations pass on?

And will all these states that are currently passing "defense of marriage statutes" be forced to quietly repeal them all 50 years down the road - the Jim Crow legacy of our times?

I know a lot of Bush voters in my age bracket and younger who don't see what all of the fuss is about with gay marriage.

because the generation just now getting out of college is the first generation in human history where gays and lesbians were allowed to live and date openly as young men and women, saw themselves reflected on national television and in the culture in general, etc.

So I think younger people see it correctly as no big deal. They realize that a minority of the population is, has always been, and always will be gay and they deserve to be able to fall in love and get hitched like anyone else.

The younger generations have grown up with people coming out all around them. The oldest generations grew up in a time when bigotry of all kinds was a routine part of life and homosexuality was never even mentioned. It's just a matter of time before death changes the political winds. 50 years from now people will be wondering why everyone made such a big deal over this.

All the defense of marriage statutes are truly the last throes of a dying prejudice. Those statutes will be quietly and in some cases sheepishly repealed for the next 20 years. Among folks 65 and older, 32% already support marriage equality. When ballot measures legalizing discrimination aren't failing outright, they're passing by smaller and smaller margins. There may be one or two more passed by 2008, and then the trend will start running the other way.

Every group that fights for civil rights eventually gets them, because there's not any logical justification for denying anyone basic rights.

It's just a matter of waiting for the people that were raised to believe it's unthinkable to die out. (Excuse the excessive bluntness; I'm sure just after the edit time expires, I'll think of a more tactful way to phrase that.)

gay clergy comes from the retired bishops, who are still allowed to vote at church conventions. There are enough of them to keep both "illegal" according to the way the church is governed.

Divide and conquer.

I'd give it more like 20 or less. Once the old curmudgeons die off, more sensible heads will reign.

If the Fundies continue to count the votes, we will be more likely to see gays being locked up or executed than being allowed to marry in 20 years.:-(

as long as the fundies own and run the voting machine and vote counting machines, they control who is "elected" and consequently all else.

conservative, being mainly from OK and TX. But I've been overwhelmed by the number of them who support same-sex marriage. Of course there are a few screaming fundies, but even among these young men and women who consider themselves "conservative," I'd say a slight majority favor same-sex marriage.

I've been saying that in about 10, MAYbe up to 20 years, depending on the political trends, this will no longer be an issue.

I can't fathom anyone waiting so long when across the border gays are free to marry in government-sanctioned ceremonies.

What bothers me is that the people in power today were amongst the hippie generation of the sixties. How they can pander to bigotry is a mystery to me.

How can a generation that de-throned a president allow this to happen?

In Canada, we elect our representatives and trust them to make decisions - after all, that is their job. In the US, they have direct ballot proposals on all kinds of things... really pointless and time-consuming things like sales taxes, zoning, and, obviously, what two consenting adults can and cannot do.

and I have an anecdote to illustrate this:

A bit less than a year ago I was working for a progressive non-profit in Missouri, a hundred year old association that does research on social issues and has had much success influencing state policy over its long history. When the federal and state marriage amendments were in the offing, the association's board was asked to take a stand and publicly oppose both measures. To my surprise, an older man who had been a core member of the organization for 40 years was vehemently against taking a stand against either measure and was equally anti-same-sex marriage. He tendered his resignation after the Board voted to oppose both measures.

I later saw his resignation letter, and I was really amazed to see how flawed his arguments were. He also characterized the whole matter as an insult to the civil rights movement.

homosexuality wasn't talked about in public.

My 84-year-old mother is simply puzzled by the idea of same-sex relationships. Years ago, I sang with a dance troupe, and she wanted to know if I had thought of dating either of the two blonde guys who were prominently featured. I informed her that the two blonde guys were a couple, and her comment was, "But they have so many cute girls to dance with."

Many people of that generation simply don't understand, and for a lot of people, the instinctive reaction to something they don't understand is fear and hatred.

I'm 64.

As a kid, I didn't think much about homosexuals, one way or another. In a name calling contest, sooner or later somebody would call somebody else a "queer". Many times them was fightin' words.

My first real confrontation(?) with homosexuality was in college. We discovered that two of our fraternity brothers were more than just roommates. We teased them unmercifully and basically shunned them. As you say, it was another time.

I didn't "fear" it, just thought it was "icky".

As I matured, I pretty much adopted a personal policy of live, and let live. You don't bother me and I won't bother you.

Then, several years ago, I read "Brain Sex". Fascinating.
The main thrust of the book is about the differences between male and female brains. Definitely NOT about who's better or worse, or smarter or dumber, but just about how we are wired differently and consequently why we think differently.

Part of the book talks about homosexuality and the authors' theories about why that happens. They believe it's a hormonal thing that happens in utero and that makes a lot of sense to me.

So...now I would no more condemn someone for being gay than I would for them having brown eyes or a birthmark.

The best quote from the book: "Men are good at reading maps, women are good at reading people."

Our local (coastal Alabama) Democratic club has tried to recruit black members, with zero success. Their political affiliations are organized around their churches.

The only time they will come to the meetings is when we have a black speaker. At one such meeting, we opened the floor to questions and comments, following the speaker's remarks. The audience of 70 or so was about evenly split between black and white.

Three black preachers rose to speak against "homosexual marriage" (and homosexuals generally) as an abomination against the lord's teaching and the bible. They asked for a resolution condemning it. There were several "Amens".

Our chairman diplomatically thanked them for their presence and comments and said we'd "take that under advisement". It was an uncomfortable moment.

We generally see eye-to-eye on other issues, but not this one.
:shrug:

#1 constituency (black America). I expect several more Gay Marriage referendums to be on state ballots in 06 and 08.

who do not support this issue and feel passionatly the other way. Whether it is enough to change these admendments is another story.

Those people over 65 lived most of their lives with gays in the closet just trying to get by. Younger people live in a world that acknowledges gays reluctantly.

If we went back to 1850, you could easily find people that would insist that slavery is just the natural order of things and that it's not a good idea to rock the boat.

In 1900, you'd find men and women who would argue against giving women the vote. Natural order of things. Don't rock the boat.
(the US is nearly 230 years old, but women have had the vote for ONLY 85 years <1920>)

NOW we've got people saying that gays shouldn't be allowed to marry each other. It's against the natural order of things. Don't rock the boat.

I believe that in 2050 that the 2005 issue of gay marriage will be regarded in the same way as those earlier social issues. I also believe that if gay marriage ever breaks through in my lifetime there will always be people loudly lamenting it.

Church's network EWTN. Their program Life on the Rock was on, and that is a show that generally appeals and speak to youth and young singles. They were gently slamming on a college student organization's request to install gender neutral bathroom in the larger public buildings on campus at ?Pomona? college. If a young person didn't have a problem with Gay Marriage before, they might after being exposed to some of the ideas from groups they may be inclined to respect.

But that's just my opinion.

My brother and sister are 19 and 18. When I came out to them it was no big deal. They get along great with my partner, and are thoroughly comfortable around gay people. This is true of most folks in that age group. When people currently under 35 are a voting majority, the legalized discrimination will fade away. However, if there is a constitutional amendment, the work will be much harder.