Students: Gay Marriage 'Inevitable'

The consensus among college students regarding the legalization of gay marriage? It will happen -- it's just a matter of when.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, a new study released by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA indicated that even a significant portion of college students who describe themselves as far-right support same-sex marriage.

Twenty-four percent of the most conservative college students say that same-sex couples should have the right to legal marital status, according to the institute's most recent survey of freshmen, conducted last summer and fall. In the nation at large, 14 percent of conservative Republicans support gay marriage, according to a survey conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Over all, 65 percent of the college freshmen surveyed last fall supported same-sex marriage, compared with 58 percent of Americans 18 to 29 years old and 39 percent of the population nationwide, according to the Pew research groups' study.

Surveying the editorial sections of college papers nationwide, the study's results hold.

When Maine's proposal to legalize gay marriage was shot down last November, a columnist wrote in the University of Maine's newspaper that "the church triumphantly crucified Lady Justice last Tuesday."

The editorial board at the Daily Iowan praised Iowa democrats in January for downplaying gay marriage in order to avoid riling the state's elderly, conservative base.

If American courts simply heeded public opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court would not have struck down segregation in Brown v. Board of Education. The justices wouldn't have rejected anti-interracial marriage laws in Loving v. Virginia. And the Iowa Supreme Court wouldn't have unanimously ruled on the side of same-sex marriage last April.

And even at the Jesuit-run Georgetown University, a student columnist for the Georgetown Hoya called for arguments against same-sex marriage to recognize the "underlying legal justification for gay marriage."

But perhaps Jamie Stark, a writer at the University of Wisconsin's Daily Cardinal, put it best:

A conservative friend recently came out to me as a lover of human rights, claiming gay marriage was a "human rights issue." To me, this was a sign that our generation will make equality inevitable.

What do you think? How has your campus reacted to the prospect of gay marriage?

Comments

[NWBrunette]

02:39 AM on 04/06/2010

Lots of different types of people can get married. And it hasn't ever stopped the institution from working. For example...

Leftist, tree-hugging, latte-drinking, ACLU-card-carrying, pot-smoking, long-haired hippies can get married.

Right-wing, race-baiting, misogynist, creationist, SUV-driving, military-loving, global-warming denying yahoos can get married

Gun-toting, tobacco-chewing, bible-thumping, barefoot, Nascar-loving, incestuous cave dwellers can get married.

Greed-loving, MBA-bestowed, pressed-suit-wearing, Ivy league, squeaky-clean, high-rise-living, narcissistic aristocrats can get married.

For goodness sakes people, prisoners can get married - thieves, rapists, murderers, child molesters too.

For the love of G*d, what is the f'ing problem with homosexuals getting married?

Kudos to the young people for having a clue.

[NWBrunette]

02:00 AM on 04/06/2010

Decades and decades too late, but it's still nice to see the h0m0ph0bes lose. And lose big time. Equal rights for all! Yes!

[jerryatthebeach]

09:04 PM on 03/22/2010

Students, thank you for your support. We middle age gays with more money and power are fighting for you so it will be an easier life and you won't deal with prejudice and unnecessary harassment. I tell everyone to fight back and be pro-active. Sitting on the sidelines will get us no where....

[RookieLue]

11:34 PM on 03/18/2010

iam the big fan of Steve and Adam

[RookieLue]

11:32 PM on 03/18/2010

it will seem very fantastic if a male have another male

[lazerbeam]

02:07 PM on 03/18/2010

:anyone who opposes gay marriage is a bigot:? then that would include most of your heros

Obama
Hilary
Biden

and most of the democractic leaders

and yet most progessives hold obama as their messiah savior .....
even though he opposes gay marriage

so it must be ok to be a bigot if your a liberal..

[Peter Danbridge]

06:02 PM on 03/18/2010

You are politically naive. Believing one thing and conveying a counter belief in order to politically survive are two very different things.

[PeterPauze]

09:35 PM on 03/18/2010

I voted for Mr. Obama and I'm happy he's our President, but his position on gay marriage is wrong. In fact, his positions on a whole bunch of issues are wrong. Y'know...in my opinion. The only way I'll ever have a President with whom I agree one hundred percent of the time is if he's me--and I'm not even sure about that. (I can be a real dope sometimes.)

It is possible--nay, healthy!--to admire and respect a person and still disagree with her or him on a whole host of issues.

But I suspect you know that perfectly well.

[Ravetti]

11:33 AM on 03/18/2010

I fully support equal rights, which obviously includes the right to marry someone of the same sex. I see absolutely no issue with it.
Why should I treat homosexuals any differently than heterosexuals?

[JeremiahA]

11:32 AM on 03/18/2010

I think this study reflects more on the lack of knowledge of the students concerning the arguments against same sex marriage than it does on anything else. Skills in critical thinking really seemed be beaten out of the students by the time they graduate with a degree.

[whowhatwhywherewhen]

11:56 AM on 03/18/2010

Maybe they just realize it's an equality issue and they are the generation that can make change. or maybe they just realize that why shouldn't same sex marriage happen...that the arguments against it MAKE NO SENSE.

[JeremiahA]

01:01 PM on 03/19/2010

In a way, I feel the same way concerning arguments for same sex marriage but I wouldn't go as far as to say they don't make sense. Maybe contradictory, maybe not very compelling but I do understand the arguments.

[Peter Danbridge]

06:04 PM on 03/18/2010

The arguments against gay marriage ALWAYS crumble in the face of facts and reason. They are also often utterly ridiculous and moronic (e.g. "Can I marry my dog now?").

[JeremiahA]

01:05 PM on 03/19/2010

Well, you seemed to have examined the issue of same sex marriage issue very closely from both sides. I understand that you have found every argument against same sex marriage has crumbled, but what did you find to be the strongest argument for the other side?

[Critic4ACritic]

09:04 AM on 03/18/2010

I mean really, who cares about all the homosexual mumbo jumbo. They’re only really 20-30% homosexuals in America; they are not even half of the population. If the media would stop creating a ridiculous (OMG, I must report on this topic) frenzy about it, it would not be an issue.

While we’re on the subject, we all have rights. The reason why majority of Heterosexuals (straights) keep calling it extra rights is to homosexuals is, because you’re (Homosexuals) asking for something you already have, granted it’s not with the same sex. All what your REALLY asking for is tax breaks, like civil unions wouldn’t be frowned upon by the homosexual community. In addition, heterosexuals are just asking for the rights, courtship, constitution, sanctity (whatever have you) of marriage to stay between a man and a woman. Homosexuals can than have civil unions, you’re still married if you have a civil union, are you not? If you're not in it for tax breaks, than what for, cause you can still be together, happily, under a civil union.

What this boils down to is: How as heterosexuals can you ask for homosexuals to really have a civil union, if you as heterosexuals don’t value the rights, courtship, constitution, sanctity (whatever have you) of marriage itself?

[Souris9]

01:00 PM on 03/18/2010

Did this have some semblance of logic in your head? Because it doesn't now. Just panic and hatefulness. People for whom everything is "all about the money" will always assume other people are motivated by money as well.

[xenas mom]

02:40 PM on 03/18/2010

Sorry to break it to you, but there are tens of thousands of legally married same sex couples living very ordinary lives in this country right this minute. We are one of them. Opposite sex couples have a whole lot of special rights that are granted to them by the federal government, including tax codes and Social Security benefits that legally married same sex couples cannot access. So, no, a couple is not "still married if you have a civil union." Equality does not parse out rights--one group "gets" rights, another does not--nor does it hide behind ridiculous statements such as "asking for something you already have." Legally married same sex couples are being discriminated against because the government grants special rights to legally married opposite sex couples.

[bmcadams]

02:41 AM on 03/18/2010

i wonder what percentage of the conservative republicans who oppose gay marriage are gay.

[PWM]

12:09 PM on 03/18/2010

scratch a homophobe and you will find a closeted homosexual.

[ryukage]

06:14 PM on 03/18/2010

Just like Roy Ashburn, Ted Haggard and Roy Cohn.

[SiberianRat]

01:42 AM on 03/18/2010

Hey HP, "homo" is not an ad hominem word, especially when referring to yourself. You'll block that but let through the word "queer," which is clearly negative in connotation??

[SiberianRat]

01:41 AM on 03/18/2010

I've always found NOT having to get married one of the few perks of being gay. However, if others want to, I guess they should be able to. Gay marriage is certainly inevitable, as is gay divorce.

[lazerbeam]

12:28 AM on 03/18/2010

I'm not being prejudice because I don't support gay marriage, If i remember right Obama also opposes gay marriage, I hold the same view as Obama..

so if there is something wrong with my veiws, it hold the same from the president
but I never hear any oppostion to obama for his oppostion to gay marriage.

[charlot]

06:28 AM on 03/18/2010

Then apparently, you are not listening.

[Zachary Pick]

09:31 AM on 03/18/2010

Anyone who opposed gay marriage is a bigot, the president included.

[lisakaz2]

08:39 PM on 03/17/2010

Like college students, I've never understood the big deal. The ruling doesn't affect me or my life. If I MYOB, they can do the same. I disagree with Rev. Phelps and don't think if 2 ppl getting married, regardless of gender, says anything about me or does anything to me. So if I were a soldier, it wouldn't cause me to lose my life.

[RookieLue]

11:36 PM on 03/18/2010

hey you look beautiful

[lisakaz2]

12:02 AM on 03/19/2010

Thanks. I'm contemplating if I should have eye surgery to improve my double vision which is what is causing the head tilt I've had for 7-8 yrs or so.

[PeterPauze]

08:31 PM on 03/17/2010

Of COURSE people 50 years from now will look back and say, "Huh? What was the sensible argument against gay marriage?" Just as people look back now and say, "Huh? What was the sensible argument in favor of racial segregation?" and people 50 years ago looked back and said, "Huh? What was the sensible argument against women having the right to vote?" and people 100 years ago looked back and said "Huh? What was the sensible argument in favor of slavery?' and people....

Conservatism is ALWAYS on the wrong side of history.

I have no idea about the specifics of what society will be like 500 years from now, but one thing I know for certain: it will be very, very different from what it is like today. So different that 99% of us (as forward-thinking as we may be) would no doubt find it alien and shocking and unpleasant. Just as people from 500 years ago (even the forward thinking ones) would find our society alien and shocking and unpleasant. Just as those people 500 years from now will be looking back at our society, shaking their heads and saying "Wow...what were those people THINKing? How barbaric."

The only thing you can be sure of is change. Trying to stop it is like wagging your finger at a tsunami.

[AmandaBC]

08:45 PM on 03/17/2010

Excellent. I'm your first fan. :)

[RookieLue]

11:37 PM on 03/18/2010

and iam you second fan

[Pleneras]

09:14 PM on 03/17/2010

haha, I said the other day the future would look back on this epoch and say WTH were these morons thinking denying healhcare to the poor and working class which is how England created the paupers. How could they claim to be prolife while promoting death?

A large section of society is very primative and uncivlized. But the blame is on the sickness certain humans have driving them to control others while claiming god as an excuse.

[StevenKeirstead]

11:55 PM on 03/19/2010

Well said!