Surprising Rice University Study on Same-Sex Marriage

Marriage,

Last June, just days before the U.S. Supreme Court struck part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, sociologists at Rice University published a significant study examining Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex marriage.

The study polled 1,300 random adults in 2006, asking them “The only legal marriage should be between one man and one woman. Agree? Neither Agree nor Disagree? Or Disagree?”

The folks conducting the study then polled the very same group of Americans 6 years later, asking them the same question.

The results were that in 2006, 57% of people said marriage ought to be the union of one man to one woman. In 2012, 53% of people agreed that’s how marriage ought to be defined. On its face, then, this study would seem to indicate support for traditional marriage fell by 4% from 2006 to 2012. That simply is not the case.

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Gay Activists Still Trying to Get Approval for Ballot Measures

Homosexuality, ,

Late yesterday afternoon, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel rejected a very oddly-worded proposal to repeal Amendment 83, Arkansas’ constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Typically, a proposed constitutional amendment consists of a popular name, ballot title, and the text of the amendment itself. The group sponsoring the measure, however, submitted a popular name, “summary,” and ballot title; they did not provide the text of their amendment.

This, among other things, caused Attorney General McDaniel to reject the proposal.

Right now there are two efforts underway to undo Arkansas’ democratically-adopted constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. One effort purposes to legalize same-sex marriage outright in 2016. The other–which the Attorney General rejected yesterday–seeks to repeal Arkansas’ Marriage Amendment in 2014.

In 2004, 75% of Arkansas voters voted to define marriage as the union of one man to one woman. Recent polling indicates an overwhelming majority of Arkansans still support that amendment.

You can read the Attorney General’s full opinion here.

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