[1] Poll: Most Americans Don’t Want Gay Marriage in Their State

By Nathan Black, Christian Post Reporter (Sat, May. 02 2009 01:46 PM EDT)

A recent poll released this week shows that the majority of American voters do not want their state to allow gay marriage.

Fifty-five percent of voters oppose a law in their state allowing same-sex couples to marry, according to an April 30 poll of more than 2,000 registered voters by Quinnipiac University.

Moreover, half of American voters support the federal law allowing states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The 1996 Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), enacted under the Clinton administration, provides that states need not recognize same-sex marriages from another state.

Fewer Americans, however, support the second DOMA provision which defines marriage as between one man and one woman and bans the federal government from recognizing gay marriage for any purpose, including eligibility for federal benefits.

Fifty-four percent of voters say the federal law denying federal spousal benefits to gay and lesbian partners should be repealed.

Also, 57 percent support same-sex civil unions and 53 percent favor allowing same-sex couples to adopt children.

Clearly, the mood is changing, even if we haven’t reached the [2] tipping point.

“Americans have nuanced and at times inconsistent views about gay rights issues,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in the report.

“In general, Americans tend to be more supportive when it comes to narrow equity questions like serving in the military or collecting federal benefits,” he noted. (Fifty-six percent of voters say the ban on openly gay men and women in the military should be repealed.)

“But they are less accepting of more philosophical issues such as equating gay rights with civil rights for blacks and the belief that people are born gay rather than it being a choice,” said Brown.

If indeed the tipping point has been passed about gender orientation being a choice, then the day will come that a majority of people will see that there is no choice but to give full civil rights to LGBT people. It ain’t over yet.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles