America's changing attitudes towards marriage equality for gays and lesbians suggest a weakening in intensity of marriage as a political issue, said Sharon Groves ( pictured ) , deputy director of the Religion and Faith Program at the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) .
That conclusion came at a forum on marriage equality that looked closely at polling data on the subject. HRC sponsored the Feb. 18 event.
"It was remarkable how unimportant Americans consider same-sex marriage as a voting priority. … [ It ] was dead last out of 10 issues, 10 out of 10," said Robert P. Jones with Public Religion Research.
He drew upon data from the 2008 Faith and American Politics Survey ( FAPS ) , conducted by the group and sponsored by Faith in Public Life, with HRC providing the funding for analysis of this particular subset of issues.
Even among white evangelicals, where 49 percent "said that same-sex marriage was very important in their vote, that still is not in the top five of their voting priorities," Jones said.
Perhaps more importantly, 57 percent of the U.S. population supports either marriage or civil unions for gays. The figure was 69 percent among those 35 and younger. "A majority of every religious group under 35 favored same-sex marriage or civil unions." Even among younger white evangelicals the number has grown to 52 percent.
In 2006, the American Values Survey found that 28 percent of Americans supported same-sex marriage; among those 18 to 34 it was 37 percent, said colleague Daniel Cox. Another survey two years later found about the same overall support, 29 percent, but among the younger age group support had jumped to 46 percent, "an increase of 9 points in just two years, which is remarkable."
Opposition has remained relatively stable over that time while support for civil unions has shifted to full marriage equality.
If pollsters then told those opposed to same-sex marriage that under the law no religious group or clergyman would be required to perform a same-sex marriage if they did not want to, a so called religious liberty assurance, then support among all groups jumped 14 percent, even among non-religious persons.
They next examined what predicted a person's view of same-sex marriage. Jones said that people with close personal relationships with gays and lesbians, not just minimal contact in the workplace or social settings, "were four times more likely to support marriage, compared with those who had no relationship with gay or lesbian persons."
Those who believed that the Bible is the work of men were three and a half times more likely to be supportive than those who held that the Bible is the literal word of god. Where one stood on the political spectrum of liberal to conservative was equally predictive.
A majority of people have heard something about homosexuality in church and it is 10 times more likely to have been negative than positive, Jones said. That is particularly true of those of attend evangelical churches, while mainline churches are approaching a balance of positive and negative.
Jones said it is unclear persons' views on marriage equality are formed by what they hear in church, or if they choose a church that reflects their existing beliefs on the subject.
Groves said information such as this "provides tools for people to speak openly as people of faith in their places of worship." The problematic news for her is that "only 19 percent of those who support marriage equality feel it is an important political issue, compared to the 47 percent of those who oppose marriage equality."
She lamented, "Opponents have successfully used religion to create a moral wedge issue. … We need to push LGBT issues up the moral priority list for our supporters." Groves said progressives must emphasize that "the golden rule" is at the center of all religions "and see LGBT equality as a sacred justice issue."
While the religious liberty assurance increased support for marriage equality, Groves said, "Blanket religious exemptions in ENDA [ the Employment Non-Discrimination Act ] are hard for our community to swallow, even as they are useful politically. We feel sometimes that religion gets a free pass on discrimination."
The 2008 Faith and American Politics Survey is available at www.publicreligion.org .
