Leave a Comment Sagesse
Two-Year Losing Streak for Anti-Gay Groups
November 19, 2012
By Matt Baume
The Supreme Court is just days away from deciding whether to take the Prop 8 case. Depending on how they rule, we could see marriages starting in California, Maine, Washington and Maryland all within the span of a few weeks. Plus with new survey data out this week, it’s now been two and a half years since our opponents last held majority support in any major national poll.
It’s just a few more days of suspense before the Supreme Court decides whether it will take the Prop 8 case. We had previously expected the decision by November 26th. But now it’s been pushed back a few days, and could come on Friday, the 30th, or Monday, the 3rd.
The court will also decide whether to take any of the four cases before it that involve the Defense of Marriage Act. There’s also a fifth case involving domestic partnerships in Arizona.
Depending on how the court rules, we could be very close to marriage resuming in California. But no matter what happens, AFER’s ready to provide you with instant updates and analysis on what happened and how it affects you. Subscribe here on YouTube or at AFER.org so you’ll always be up-to-date.
We’re also close to the start of marriage in Washington state on December 6th. Maryland marriages begin on January first. And we’ll have a firm date for marriages in Maine as soon as the votes are finalized, but they should be starting up there before the end of the year.
With those three states, the percentage of the American population living in states with marriage equality will soon be at its highest point ever — even higher than it was when California briefly allowed marriage in 2008.
And a new study by the Williams Institute at UCLA estimates that marriage spending in those three states will generate 166 million dollars over the next three years. That estimate is for in-state residents only, and doesn’t include spending by tourists.
And of course, public support for marriage continues to climb steadily upward. A new survey from the Washington Post shows 51 percent support marriage equality with 47 percent opposed. The last time any major national survey showed our opponents polling over fifty percent was a Gallup poll in May of 2010.
And even going back fifteen years, the trend of support has only moved in one direction. Between the Prop 8 and DOMA cases, marriage winning on the ballot, and pro-equality legislators winning offices in multiple states, there’s going to be lots of major news on the freedom to marry over the coming weeks and months.
Subscribe here on YouTube and at AFER.org so you can always be up-to-date with what’s going on.
Having technical problems? E-mail equalityontrial AT couragecampaign DOT org for assistance!
15 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Rich | November 19, 2012 at 3:31 pm
On a somewhat related matter. I choose to monitor NOM blogs because I find them enlightening in one major respect. The five or six people who consistently blog for their side just refuse to move beyond their own deeply ingrained animus towards gays. Now, this alone is not enlightening but if you read closely you can discern the various floaters they throw out to see which ones stick to inflame their constituents. The usual suspects are indoctrination of children in schools, children subjected to the evils of gay parenting, assaults on religious freedoms and, of course, the basic canard…that gay relationships ( and all that that entails) are an affront to their God. This last election obviously deflated the punch of these arguments because, in the end, reasonable and intelligent voters saw through the shrill nonsense of all this. But, what really intrigues me is that, despite the sudden rush by the Republican Party to distance itself from all things right wing-nut radical and the failure of the fundamentalist movement to influence the vote… almost everywhere…NOM and its half dozen diehards will not see the "handwriting on the walls". When it is revealed that only 2 sources funded the bulk of their campaign and apparently few individuals share their angst and obsession with all things gay, they still parlay the old talking points but to what purpose. I think we will see the end of this site sooner rather than later and it will come suddenly…the site closed down, no explanation and no rejoinder. A half dozen people cannot keep it going once the 2 donors say, "Enough is enough."
2.
Jamie | November 19, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Those two donors? They are just like those half dozen NOM die-hards. The few million dollars that they give to Maggie & Co. means about as much to them as that $5 trip to Starbucks means to you.
3.
Bob | November 19, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Two donors have THAT much power. Sick.
4.
Seth from Maryland | November 19, 2012 at 8:21 pm
How Marriage Equality Supporters Beat The “Princess” Ad http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/how-marriage…
5.
Straight Ally #3008 | November 19, 2012 at 10:10 pm
They simply cannot allow their gravy train to go off the tracks. As soon as they admit the tide is turning, it hastens their inevitable defeat. Like the Black Knight from Monty Python, they will soldier on even as their limbs are chopped off.
6.
Straight Ally #3008 | November 19, 2012 at 10:13 pm
Let's not forget North Carolina. It's still a tough fight ahead.
7.
Davep | November 19, 2012 at 11:19 pm
'tis but a flesh wound!!
8.
Straight Supporter | November 20, 2012 at 3:05 am
The church I occasionally go with my gf to was recently talking about how many 'sodomites' there are in other places in the country and how they take it for granted that most people here in the bible belt are good bible believing christians. This was the sunday after the election. They are pushing still to spread their form of belief to other places. It is crazy IMO that religion has the effect of people trying to shove their lifestyles on everyone else and require them to live the same lifestyles under the rule of law. I often wonder how weak this god must truly be that he/she/it requires people to get it's job done, whether its crusades and witch hunts or marriage equality.
9.
Gregory in SLC | November 20, 2012 at 5:47 am
Perhaps some of us(me included) were too critical of the "soft" ads?
10.
karen in kalifornai | November 20, 2012 at 9:17 am
Re the whole "rights" issue. Most of my straight supportive friends and family don't have a clue how limited my relationship rights are. Yes important to me, but they just make the assumption that because I'm in a long term committed relationship that our legal rights are the same as theirs. So important to me, but the study is right, not so important to straight people.
11.
karen in kalifornia | November 20, 2012 at 9:18 am
Whoops, inadvertently posted in the wrong thread. Was supposed to be in the Greidner writeup.
12.
Mark Mead-Brewer | November 20, 2012 at 11:26 am
They do when the donors are the Catholic and Mormon churches
13.
Mark Mead-Brewer | November 20, 2012 at 11:28 am
Not willing to conceed that myself Gregory. We got lucky using the 'soft' ads.
IMHO
14.
phoenix | November 20, 2012 at 11:37 am
It's a gathering storm… of marriage equality. http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/04/22/gay-storm-ad/
15.
Alt2ning | November 20, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Try a different church. The God we worship in the church I attend does not need people to "push" religion on others. We think God loves everyone, not just those who "earn" it. Your opportunity to understand that is called "grace." Then, after you realize this God loves you, you can relax a little, and not need to judge others. After that, you find a way to work at living a life that expresses that love. Come to think of it, the folks who wrote the US Constitution (and particularly the First Amendment) thought more or less the same way – no one gets to force their religion on anyone else.
Leave a Comment
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
TrackBack URL | RSS feed for comments on this post.