More Americans support gay marriage, study says

In what some consider a signal of change, a poll released March 18 by ABC News and The Washington Post suggested more than half of Americans now support legalizing same sex marriage.
In 2004, 32 percent of adults supported gay marriage, according to the poll. That number has risen to 53 percent.

While ABC News called the shift in public opinion a “milestone,” members of the Boston University community said that they were not surprised by the results of the poll.

“I honestly think that [the report] is not shocking at all,” said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Aretha Pinkney, the social chair of Spectrum, BU’s LGBTQ organization.

Pinkney said she believes people are beginning to accept the rights of gays and lesbians in the same way that they accepted women’s rights.

Although Marsh Chapel does not have an official stance on this issue, Tyler Sit, a College of Communication senior and a Marsh Chapel associate for the LGBTQ community, said he agreed that the United States has demonstrated an increased tolerance toward gays and lesbians.

“America is becoming a safer place for people to come out of the closet,” Sit said. “We [now] have students coming out in middle school, pastors, married people.”

Marsh Chapel LGBTQ Associate Liz Douglass said that changes in the political climate since 2004 could have contributed to Americans’ increased tolerance.

“Gay marriage was first legalized in Massachusetts in 2004…since then, the American people have not seen the destruction of the state of Massachusetts because of its decision to offer basic human rights to lesbians and gays,” Douglass said in an email. “People have been able to witness lesbians and gays commit themselves in monogamous loving relationships and raise children in the same exact ways of heterosexual couples.”

Douglass explained that she thought recent pop culture has made the LGBTQ community more accepted.

“Television shows like ‘Glee,’ ‘The Ellen Show,’ and others that include a gay or lesbian character also tell the American people that lesbians and gays are indeed everywhere,” she said.

However, certain aspects of ABC’s report, including that support for gay marriage has risen across all age groups, surprised some students.

COM freshman Lois Alksninis said that the information in the report impressed her.

“People that I know that are younger accept [gay marriage], but older generations, not really,” said Alksninis. “I think it is really interesting that older people are now accepting it even though it wasn’t something that they were raised to understand.”

Though acceptance of gay rights has increased across the board, Douglass said that there is still work to be done.

“I am aware that even though 53 percent sounds like huge percentage of American people in support of gay marriage, there are still the 47 percent that are against it,” she said. “The stories continue of young LGBT adults and teens committing suicide because of the pain they’ve experienced due to others’ bullying and taunting.”

Douglass said that though the report mentions growing support for gay marriage in many religions, most notably among Catholics, lesbians and gays are still not fully included in many denominations.

However, Douglass remains optimistic.

“If people’s attitudes and thoughts can continue to evolve towards the inclusion of all people, despite differences, like they have over the last seven years, I have strong hope for the next seven years,” she said.