In 2007, a UCLA report reflected the attitudes of college freshmen nationwide. The acceptance of same-sex marriage grew even as far back as 2005 and 2006, when the poll national poll was conducted.
The study found that 61% of incoming freshmen in 2006 agreed that same-sex couples should have the right to marriage, up 3.3 percentage points from 2005.
Last week, a Gallup poll showed that a majority of Americans support gay marriage. It was the third such survey this spring, and if you add in the number of Americans who support civil unions, public support for same-sex relationships has become the dominant position.
"These polls reflect the overall opinion of people actually polled," said Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer. "The problem is that the people polled typically change with each random poll, and not all polls agree. However, on a national level Kentucky Equality Federation and Marriage Equality Kentucky see the changing minds of the American people."
Palmer continued: "Unfortunately, the state which passed the first Civil Rights Act in 1966, the Commonwealth of Kentucky does not seem to share the overall poll results; if they did, we would see changes in our elected lawmakers in Frankfort. We have a handful of Representatives in the Kentucky House of Representatives who support marriage equality. Marriage is a contract between the State and two loving people, nothing more, nothing less and once the contract is signed couples are entitled to over 100 benefits offered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and over 1000 offered by the United States Government."
Yesterday Jim Daly, the president of the massive religious-right organization Focus on the Family, conceded that his group had basically lost the argument on gay marriage in an interview with a Christian magazine.
Daly, a significantly less odious character than his predecessor, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, also says that Christians should perhaps work on their own marriages instead of trying to prevent others from having families to focus on. His new plan: Let the state go to the perverts and polygamists and have the church set much higher standards for marriage and divorce.
Palmer continued: "What alarms us at Kentucky Equality Federation is that Matthew D. Staver, the Founder and Chairman of anti-equality Liberty Counsel will be visiting the Commonwealth on May 26, 2011 for an event titled 'Bluegrass Freedom Rally 2011.' Unfortunately for Liberty Counsel, who was in favor of California's Prop 8 hundreds of tickets remain available. Citizens in Lexington are not interested in hate speeches; it is an old argument and we have all grown tired of it. Liberty Counsel, the Family Foundation of Kentucky, and the American Family Association of Kentucky should join Focus on the Family and accept defeat. We will be repealing the Commonwealth's 2004 Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage, domestic partnerships, and civil unions, it is only a question of when. This has been the sole goal of Marriage Equality Kentucky, a group funded by Kentucky Equality Federation since 2008."
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