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| Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, said a recent poll showing that a majority of teenagers do not approve of legalizing same-sex marriages is ‘at odds’ with many other similar surveys. (Photo by Michael Wise) |
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: BRYAN ANDERTON
COMMENTS
A majority of teenagers — often considered more progressive and gay-friendly
than older generations — do not approve of legalizing marriage between
gay couples, a Gallup poll released last week suggests.
In a poll released by the Gallup Organization Oct. 28, when asked whether
they approved or disapproved of “marriages between homosexuals,” 55
percent of teens said they disapproved, while 42 percent said they approved.
But the poll also revealed a sharp divide on the issue along gender lines,
with nearly twice as many girls than boys expressing approval for same-sex
marriages.
Evan Wolfson, executive director of the same-sex marriage advocacy group Freedom
to Marry, said the poll results contradicted results from other recent polls.
“This poll is a little bit at odds with every other poll we’ve
seen, … in which, overwhelmingly, young people strongly support ending
discrimination in marriage,” Wolfson said.
The poll was conducted among 517 respondents aged 13 to 17. It had a 5 percent
margin of error.
According to the poll, 45 percent of teens aged 13 to 15 approved of same-sex
marriages, compared to only 38 percent of teens aged 16 and 17.
Perhaps more noteworthy is the sharp contrast in responses given by boys and
girls. Fifty-six percent of the girls surveyed said they approved of same-sex
marriages, as opposed to only 30 percent of the boys.
“It’s only boys by a large number who, by the poll and by the
way it was worded, gave a negative answer,” Wolfson said. “I would
bet you any poll they asked teenage boys using the word ‘homosexual’ would
invite a negative response. And of course, that’s a sad statement of
how vulnerable these boys are, and the importance of combating a negative message
with an affirmative message about gay people and marriage.”
Wolfson said the results could have been skewed because of the question’s
wording. He ventured that more of the teens, including the boys, would have
expressed approval for same-sex marriage if the poll had asked whether they
approved of discriminating against gays by denying same-sex partners the same
rights afforded to opposite-sex couples in marriage.
Numerous calls to critics of gay marriage, including the Concerned Women for
America and Peter LaBarbera, the former senior policy analyst for the Culture & Family
Institute, seeking comment about the poll were not returned by press time.
Polls in two states where the marriage battle has been hotly debated recently
show broad support for legal recognition of same-sex unions.
A strong majority of Massachusetts residents support civil marriages for gay
couples, and nearly four-fifths are opposed to attempts to amend the state’s
Constitution to explicitly deny gay couples the same rights as married heterosexuals,
according to a poll released Oct. 30 by the national polling group Decision
Research.
Since July, the Massachusetts Supreme Court has withheld a decision that many
gay activists hope will make the state the first in the country to legalize
same-sex marriages. A ruling is expected at any time.
In the Massachusetts poll, 59 percent of the 600 people interviewed said they
support extending civil marriages to gay couples, compared to 35 percent who
said they did not. Support was highest among women, Democrats, non-married
people and people with college degrees, and was virtually equally distributed
throughout the state’s various regions.
But Massachusetts residents were even more sharply opposed to the prospect
of the state passing a constitutional amendment prohibiting civil marriage
for gay couples; by a margin of 79 percent to 20 percent, respondents said
the government had more important priorities than passing such a ban.
At the same time, a survey by Northern Arizona University showed that more
Arizona residents oppose than support legal marriages for gay couples, but
a majority do support allowing gays to enter into civil unions that would give
them many of the same rights as married couples.
The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled last month that same-sex couples do not
have the fundamental right to marry after a gay couple sued the state for marriage
rights.
In the Arizona poll, 54 percent of the 610 residents surveyed said they opposed
allowing gays to legally marry, compared to 42 percent who were in favor. But
those numbers nearly flip-flopped when the same was asked about the prospect
of gays entering into marriage-like civil unions: 53 percent supported that
idea, while 43 percent were opposed.
Wolfson said those numbers are “very encouraging.”
“Just a few points’ shift would put us in the majority, ...
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