"...people under 40 just don’t care about gay marriage at all..."

That was a quote taken from Meet the Press yesterday. Granted, it might not sound too hopeful, but you have to realize the context. They were commenting on the gay marriage issue, and one person brought up how a Republican pollster said that people under 40 don't care about gay marriage (meaning, it's not a big deal to them). Here's the entire quote:


"""And Tim, on Biden’s point, in the long term, there’s no question this is a dying flame. The question is, how long is it politically useful for Republicans? Young people do not care about this issue. I talked to a senior Republican pollster on Friday who said people under 40 just don’t care about gay marriage at all in a large sense. And so Republicans know that this is a losing argument, you know, five, 10, 20 years down the road. But right now, it still has some utility for them."""


So that's some good news. Granted, I guess apathy from younger voters will still make some people angry, but that's a long ways from being "emblazoned" to go out and vote against gay marriage as well. Those hateful types, they truly are a dying breed. A couple decades will go by, and they'll be gone, and we as a country will be better off for it.

If this isn't more proof that the Democratic party should abandon all hope of trying to win any of the evangelical types away, stop trying to move center, and instead do whatever it takes to get younger people motivated enough to vote -- I don't know what is. Stop worrying about those hateful types that look like walking corpses as is, they need to instead focus on how to motivate these young people to vote, these people that will be of voting age for the next 4-6 decades. That's how we'll be successful.

A lot of Repukes of any age do not care about gays getting married or a lot of that social stuff. Many of them care ony that they keep every cent of their income, and get a little more for good measure. If that means bombing innocent people into oblivion, or starving American children who cares? I got mine. Indifferent about gay people, but will follow the money trail. Many gay people fit into this group. The log cabin is the organization.

A lot of Dems DO care about gays getting married, and do not like the at all. Many of the deeply religious of our party think it morally wrong. The wingnuts are good at pushing their buttons.

DO care about gay folk and marriage equality.

and they are for it.

with every generation now -- we deal with more people who know gay folk.

and that's the biggest change.

now i do have some agreement with you on american apathy as a whole.

So the right knows that these people will rise up and get active. There aren't enough of them to do much, but scare the shit out of some people. Someone is probably going to get hurt before this is all over with, because the repukes are lighting a fire under their most deranged followers. It's disgusting. I hope it's obvious to everyone now how these folks are just victims of abuse, with stockholm syndrome. All the right has to do to get them worked into a lather is to tell them they are being victimized by someone unrelated to them like immigrants or queers. Then 'boom' off in lockstep they go. The victim thing works for them, but in the wrong way.

don't care all that much about it either.

It's not just a bullshit wedge issue since it's acceptance would be a major cultural change, but I've been seeing a massive shift toward acceptance of homosexuality over the years in the circles I'm in.

I relate it to racial issues, where there has also been a massive shift from overt racism. We're not there yet, and we may never be fully there, where there is a good comfort level with people "not like us" but we are fast moving in that direction-- not fast enough, perhaps, but still moving.

It took us 300 years to get rid of slavery and another 100 years to get rid of official racism and Jim Crow laws. It's only been in the last 40 years or so that overt racism has become a thing of shame. We've been working on homophobia for less than that, and look how far we've gotten. Not far enough in either case, of course, but there's a bright light at the end of the tunnel, and homophobia is screaming with it's dying breath.

And it's dying faster then alot of people realize. Were men use to be raised to be worried if people THOUGHT he was gay.. and to do everything possible to prevent such a thought.. for the younger generation.. they don't care.

I work with alot of teens. It's a joke to them. Try calling one 'gay' as a cut down.. they are more likely flip a wrist and strut across the floor in a great impression of a queen. The cut downs don't work like they use to. The 'fear' isn't there.

They are more likely to use it as part of teenage rebelion. For parental 'shock value.'

In the adult work force and society, I'm seeing more men being relaxed about it. More and more are realizing it's not 'unmanily' to be hit upon by another male. LOL! The myth that all gays are 'girlie' is blown. And straigt males now realize that just because someone is gay, doesn't mean they want in their pants. LOL!

I think that last part is the biggy. The FEAR of others thinking they were gay. And the fear of another guy making a pass at them and what that would 'mean.' The teens are dealing with that issue in HS along with everything else teens go through.

The only places that is still behind, are the really rual areas were homosexuals are still in the closet. Were kids in HS can not come 'out.' Where they FEAR and the MYTHS still play a major part of their lifes. But some of those kids WILL go away to college and come home. Some will just move away.. and others will move in.

I know what happened.



But I will say, why more people prefer to care more about "gay marriage" over the economy and a stable future... :shrug:

Or do we all subconsciously know it's over?

Very unfortunate.

Most of the heterosexuals under 40 that I know will cast a ballot against gay discrimination, if it is framed that way. In fact, they'd call it a "no-brainer." Of course, the debate has never been framed that way in the mainstream media discussion, has it?

This is why you hear so many people say they support civil unions but not gay marriage, for example. They aren't given an opportunity to support civil unions, but they are given an opportunity to oppose gay marriage--so thats how the vote falls. And nobody bothers to tell them that there are very real differences between the two, and they don't hear the "separate but equal is hogwash" arguments either, since they're not in the MSM. Unless they have gay friends or family, in which case they become educated on the distinction.

I don't begrudge people their self-interest. I don't generally begrudge them their apathy or ignorance either--people do have a right to choose their own level of participation in our political system. I do try to inform and educate people about the particulars, about the misinformation, and about the way others are trying to mis-frame these issues. Especially when the media is doing the mis-framing. But I don't expect heterosexuals to universally take time out of their lives to figure all this stuff out on their own. I don't expect them to march about it. I don't expect people who have no hat in the race to write their Congresscritters.

I am delighted when I see them out there with us, though! And thank them for their support.

No political movement really works from the outside, it's always the oppressed that ultimately stand up and demand their equality, not the casual observer. It will be the LGBT Americans, and their family and friends, who do the demonstrating. The vast majority of the heterosexual masses will just cast a vote as their level of activism.

And that leaves it to the vocal "politically-active" individuals to define the debate, by default.

to the rest of us, it's always been "normal."

Twenty-five years ago, AIDS forced homosexuality out of the closets, gay bars, and onto the newspapers, television, etc.

I think the Republicans are beating a dead horse with this issue. The world that are children have been growing up in is light years away from the world that I grew up in in the 50's and 60's.

... about gay bashing. I still do, of course, but I mean I used to totally flip out and be completely angry for hours at a time. My boyfriend at the time would say, "What's the big deal? The homophobes are dying off, and our generation has better things to worry about." In the end, he was a jerk, but I still heartily hope he was right about that one thing.