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Pew Research Center Reports Historical Findings

Pew Research Center Reports Historical Findings
A majority of Americans Support Legal Recognition of Lesbian & Gay Partnerships, and Support for Marriage Equality Rises Again

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 5, 2005

PRESS CONTACT:
Samiya Bashir
Tel: 212-851-8418 x.6, Mobile: 917-617-8660
Email: samiya@freedomtomarry.org

New York, NY (August 5, 2005): A recent national poll, released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center, reports that support for marriage equality is at its highest point since July 2003. For the first time, a majority of Americans (53%) are in favor of legal recognition for lesbian and gay couples that would offer many of the same rights and responsibilities as non-gay married couples, while support for ending discrimination in marriage itself has "rebounded" and continues to grow.

In a shift from some of the dips in the past few months, fully 35% of Americans said they support ending discrimination in marriage and allowing committed same-sex couples to marry, while only 53% oppose. "This is exactly what the right wing is afraid of," said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. "If we stick with the conversation and persist in engaging the non-gay public on marriage equality, the public will move to fairness."

"People have had a year of legal marriage in Massachusetts to see how ending marriage discrimination helps gay and lesbian families and hurts no one," continued Wolfson, author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry, which was recently re-released in paperback by Simon & Schuster. "The long-term trend in America's civil rights discussion, including this recent rebound of public support for marriage equality, which follows the ferment and barrage of the past several months, demonstrates the power of engaging the public and showing them the reality of marriage equality, rather than right-wing rhetoric and scare tactics. When it comes to opening hearts and minds on fairness and reaching the middle, seeing is, in fact, believing."

According to the Pew poll, support for the freedom to marry, as well as for civil union and other steps toward marriage itself, has also increased among most religious groups, especially among white evangelical Protestants, from 26% in December 2004 to 35% today. Polling results show a continuing decline (from 35% in August 2004 to 29% today) in support for a constitutional amendment to permanently exclude lesbian and gay couples, and their families, from the rights, responsibilities, and protections of marriage.

Freedom to Marry is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Launched in 2003, Freedom to Marry is headed by Evan Wolfson, nationally recognized as a central "architect of the marriage equality movement." Freedom to Marry guides and focuses this social justice movement on a nationwide level, serving as a strategy and support center for national, state, and local partners, a catalyst that drives and shapes the national debate on marriage equality, and an alliance-builder fostering support from non-gay allies.

Some Marriage History

1948: Perez v. Lippold — Despite public opposition, the California Supreme Court became the first state high court to declare a ban on interracial marriage unconstitutional.

1965: Griswold v. Connecticut — invalidated a Connecticut law prohibiting the use of contraception by married couples.

1967: Loving v. Virginia — U.S. Supreme Court overturned laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Polls showed 70 percent opposed.

1971: Baker v. Nelson — (Minnesota) The first case for ending discrimination in marriage is brought in the United States.

1993: Baehr v. Lewin — In a landmark marriage case in Hawaii, rules that the state's refusal to issue marriage licenses to three lesbian and gay couples violates Hawaii's Equal Rights Amendment barring discrimination on the basis of sex.

1996: The so-called Defense of Marriage Act (HR 3396/S 1704) was introduced by Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) and Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK), and passed the House in 1996. To avoid making this an election-year issue, President Clinton signed the bill into law.

2000: Vermont becomes the first state to pass a comprehensive Civil Unions bill providing lesbian and gay couples many of the rights and responsibilities offered to opposite-sex couples through marriage.

2003: Goodridge et al. v. The Department of Public Health — Massachusetts became the first state to skip separate and unequal recognition for lesbian and gay couples and make marriage equality the law of the land. Pew Research Center Reports Historical Findings
A majority of Americans Support Legal Recognition of Lesbian & Gay Partnerships, and Support for Marriage Equality Rises Again

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Freedom to Marry is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Launched in 2003, Freedom to Marry is headed by Evan Wolfson, nationally recognized as a central "architect of the marriage equality movement." Freedom to Marry guides and focuses this social justice movement on a nationwide level, serving as a strategy and support center for national, state, and local partners, a catalyst that drives and shapes the national debate on marriage equality, and an alliance-builder fostering support from non-gay allies.