Email |

Voters don't buy arguments of gay marriage advocates

Published November 6th, 2009 | 0 Comments

This week, Maine held a referendum that gay rights advocates predicted would make the state the first to approve same-sex marriage at the ballot box.

Instead, voters rejected the measure decisively.

Although five other states have legalized same-sex marriage, none has done so with the affirmation of a popular vote. Disappointing as this must be for gay rights advocates, it should scarcely have come as a surprise.

With Maine’s referendum, same-sex marriage has gone down to defeat 31 times — every time — it has been put to a popular vote.

The five states that have legalized same-sex marriage — Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont — did so through legislation or court rulings.

Gay rights advocates have long argued that same-sex marriage is a matter of social justice. They liken it to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s that fundamentally changed the lives of black Americans. But voters in 31 of the 50 states — more than half the American electorate — simply don’t buy that analogy.

The majority of Americans continue to see a significant difference between a denial of basic civil rights such as access to employment, shelter or food in a public eatery based on a benign, non-behavioral characteristic like skin color and sexual behavior.

The civil rights movement of the previous generation was, at base, a challenge to rededicate ourselves to a common set of core values. By contrast, same-sex marriage advocates are engaged in a campaign to alter the common meaning of what has historically been an exclusively heterosexual institution.

America remains an exceptionally tolerant society, but there are no public opinion polls showing majority support for same-sex marriage. That’s because tolerance isn’t the same thing as approval.

Forty-three states have statutes restricting marriage to two persons of the opposite sex, including some of those that have created legal recognition for same-sex unions under a name other than marriage. A handful of other states ban any legal recognition of same-sex unions that would be the legal equivalent of civil marriage.

While gay rights advocates have won legislative or judicial battles in a handful of states for same-sex marriage, the public referendum in Maine shows they are decisively losing the larger cultural war.

Discuss This Story

Be the first to comment: Sign In or Create Profile .

To comment, you must register.

Comments are the sole responsibility of the registered user participating in online discussions. You agree not to post comments off topic, abusive, obscene, defamatory, vulgar, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned.

Click here to review our complete user agreement.