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Support Grows For
Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment
by Paul Johnson 365Gay.com from the Web, April 20, 2005
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Washington -- A new Gallup Poll shows that over the past year support for an amendment to the US Constitution to ban same-sex marriage has steadily grown with 57 percent of the electorate now favoring the move.
The poll, taken between March 18 and 20, shows that only 37 percent are opposed to an amendment.
Last July when the question was asked by Gallup pollsters the public was more evenly divided with 48 percent in favor of an amendment and 46 percent against.
But, in November, voters in 11 states passed amendments to their constitutions banning gay marriage.
The new poll also shows a greater polarization along party lines. 71 percent of Republicans want a federal amendment while support among Democrats is at 45 percent, and 51 percent of independents would approve an amendment.
"Our nation is continuing to witness something that has not happened since our constitution was first ratified in 1791 -- essentially a national referendum inviting the public to vote to deprive a small minority of Americans of rights that the majority takes for granted and sees as fundamental," said Matt Foreman, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director.
Last week the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution began hearings on a new attempt to get the amendment through Congress.
The amendment was introduced in the Senate in January by Colorado Republican Sen. Wayne Allard. It would deny marriage to same-sex couples and deny the ability to provide any protections to same-sex couples, such as domestic partnerships and civil unions.
It is the same measure as Allard sponsored in the last session. That attempt failed in July on procedural grounds.
The House version also died partly due to disarray within the GOP.
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