Laura Bush: Gay Marriage 'Will Come' Due To Generational Shift

Former First Lady Laura Bush has found herself back in the news after an appearance on "Larry King Live" in which she discussed the differences of opinion she had with her husband, President George W. Bush, on abortion and gay rights. During her interview, she cast the issue of gay marriage as something that "will come," owing to a "generational" shift in opinion on the matter.

As it turns out, Bush has this precisely correct. Via James Kwak at Baseline Scenario, here's a snapshot of the country's attitudes toward gay marriage, by age and state, courtesy of a study by Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips entitled, "Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness".

This probably isn't a very nice way of putting it, but basically, the most significant segment of the population that opposes gay marriage is the one that's closest to death. Obviously, gay marriage will be coming to some states sooner than others, but the tide toward marriage equality is inexorable.

It's the nature of things that every new generation tends to be skeptical of those that came before it. It's just a pity that so many Americans are going to reflect upon the way their parents and grandparents approached this issue and find themselves feeling deeply embarrassed.

PREVIOUSLY, on the HUFFINGTON POST:
Laura Bush: Gay Marriage Should Be Legal, Abortion Should Remain Legal (VIDEO)

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Comments

[SteveMD2]

06:15 PM on 05/30/2010

“Sodom and Gomora all over again but even worse! Soon the judgement will come just as it did then. And the wicked who do not folllow Jehovahs Laws will be destroyed. Jesus will put Satan into the abyss " quote

A quote from the most superstitious and ignorant of people. They've been forcasting that Jesus would return so many times it really gives credence to the fact that the wwhole divinity sttory is a bullshit lie.

Ignorants like that writer belong in some hole in the ground. Or even better lets give them to the ALLah boys, along with their bible

Sometimes the enemy of my enemy is my friends.

The only case the quote makes is that we should outlaw religious teaching

[JeremiahA]

11:35 AM on 05/15/2010

It's difficult to comment on this study since there is no information on what questions were asked to the respondents, but I believe the results reflect more on the insular lives and lack of critical thinking of the youth group than it does on the validity of arguments for same sex marriage.

[Kai Cross]

03:52 AM on 06/01/2010

Actually, if you use the link provided in the article, you will see there is plenty of info given regarding the methodology of the study. As far as your "belief" on what the results reflect, my belief is that you're completely wrong. The "youth group", as you put it, have grown up around out gay people and know that they love just like anyone else. The have compassion for their fellow man and don't want gay people to have less rights than others.

[JeremiahA]

12:35 PM on 06/01/2010

I am sorry but I will have to disagree. The gay population of the U.S. is approx. 3% so I find it difficult to believe that the "youth group" have grown up around gay people. However, I will agree that they have grown up ingesting false ideas from various sources, ideas such as sexual behavior is morally insignificant, that principled moral objections are intolerant, and so on.

In reading the study, "Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness," I felt that some of the questions were not objective and designed to provoke a certain response. Also problematic is that the questions were not worded the same for each survey Lax and Phillips examined.

Maybe same sex marriage will become a special right in the States someday. However, it will come at a terrible price.

[floundermike123]

10:31 AM on 05/15/2010

Sodom and Gomora all over again but even worse! Soon the judgement will come just as it did then. And the wicked who do not folllow Jehovahs Laws will be destroyed. Jesus will put Satan into the abyss where he cannot influence humans for 1000 years! During the 1000 years of Jesus's reign the earth will return to a paradise. Big business will be done away with and also Mans corrupt governments will be abolished! False religions and their false teachings and pagan rituals and worship will be done away with! All those who support Satans visible system will face eternal destruction! AMEN!!!

[jbrantow]

01:18 PM on 05/27/2010

life must be frightening inside your delusional mind. Too pathetic to even be humorous.

[seventhrama]

12:45 PM on 05/14/2010

Gay men and women must define what constitutes marriage for gay men and women. My only concern is that, we as gay men and women, seem willing to fashion our relations on a heterosexual model that does not work half the time. Simply superimposing our relation(s) on a failed model of marriage places us in a no-win situation for legally repeating heterosexuals mistakes. Even with all the legal accoutrements of marriage, there still can be no equal rights under the law when the social/religious/cultural fabric still needs to be woven.
The next generation will have to deal with how to weave a legal/social/religious/cultural fabric that will provide a fertile environment for integrating gay “marriages” into America’s consciousness. Even though I am in the autumn years of my life, I would love to see that day come. However, we as gay men and women still must do our part to help that day come by preparing ourselves for the responsibilities that comes with any right, e.g., what is needed to support male/male, female/female relationships, and what legal/social/religious/cultural will be needed to support gay relationships in an excepting environment.

[HollyRoger]

12:34 PM on 05/14/2010

Wyoming's not on the bottom of the list! Apparently my state is not quite as a$$-backwards as I thought.

[ZiloRS]

02:45 PM on 05/14/2010

Haha nice feeling isn't it?

[SarahA43]

12:23 PM on 05/14/2010

Would have been nice if you hadn't lied when you were in office, and wasted the chance to do waht was right. People in this country deserve equal rights under the law. People like these guys: http://ourscenetv.com/posts/281/internet-superstars-equality-heroes

[omobob]

11:54 AM on 05/14/2010

Gay marriage should never be a voting issue. Its a matter of equal rights. The will of the majority shall not infringe upon the rights of the minotiry. Hopefully the US Supreme Court will decide this issue not on sexual perferences nut on human rights.

[stefiz]

11:08 AM on 05/14/2010

i love every article you write Jason!!!
thank you!!!

[momcat54]

10:11 AM on 05/14/2010

I agree, I think the hard line on gays will die out with the older generation .I know that my children' and their friends have a far more relaxed attitude than a lot of my friends do and are at opposte poles from my parnets who are int heir late 70-s. I;m pretty sure the Bush daughters are about like my children and more tolerant and open minded , or at least I hope so. I am glad Laura is opening up and becoming more independent since George left office. I am surprised she remembers how to be her own woman .

[adevarul]

09:41 AM on 05/14/2010

Gay marriage or its equivalent is a given. It is simply inequitable not to provide gays with the rights and benefits of marriage. My lesser concern with gay marriage is in the area of adoption. In the case of adoption, I do not believe that the society has seriously considered the implications of gay adoption. This is not to say that gays cannot be parents, but should they be treated identically to heterosexual parents? Since men and women are clearly different, should a lesbian couple be treated differently from a male couple? That also brings to light family law issues relating to divorce. My greater concern, however, is immigration and the difficulty DHS and the Department of State will have in detecting fraud particularly when the partner being sponsored for marriage is coming from a, shall we say, a dangerous country. Remember that many of the world's gays are closeted and since gay unions do not produce offspring, it will be much harder to determine their validity. This opens the door to not only fraud, but national security threats. Will DHS prosecute all of the ex spouses of gays who, after two years, suddenly "decide" they are heterosexual?

[josephRoehl]

06:30 PM on 05/14/2010

Gays and bisexuals in longterm stable relationships have produced children and 'in vitro fertilization' offspring of millions of children just in the US in the past 30 years, and yes studies indicate those children have LESS Psychological problems and are just as stable as adults as children raised by heterosexual families. Additionally, gay families raise tens of millions of children worldwide, including millions of orphans of wars and abandonment, which threatens the stereotypes that some here seem to accept as facts. The mistreatment of gay families also has meant the mistreatment of the children of those families....clearly a crime against children and family stability everywhere. Either all children and all families are treated equally and protected from harm and harassment from hate and violence, or all children face continuous discriminatory prospects that fair-minded societies should never again tolerate for one minute.
And as for fake marriages, heterosexuals hold the records for arranged marriages and tactically-driven ones to ennable partners to enter almost any nation without further investigation of their own real situations. Since terrorists are anti-gay by their own religious definitions of normalcy, and since those fundamentalists are threats to national security, it's actually those str8 religio-heterosexists most likely to promulgate frauds to secure their own places in stable societies they work to overthrow....not openly gay people....they're victims, just like women and children are to openly heterosexist religio-terrorist thugs across the Earth who see them and their bodies as the fundies' 'property'.

[lstl4]

09:23 AM on 05/14/2010

I think alot of so called conservatives feel the way Laura does. We always have to choose sides in this society, so I understand why she kept her mouth shut while her husband was in office. It was the respectful thing to do.

[Robert Meek]

11:00 AM on 05/14/2010

What some call "respectful" others might call cowardly. Mama let father dictate what came out of her mouth? Well hell froze over! Mind you, my parents were both opposed to my being gay, but that's a different issue, from what we're talking about here. And yes, they both were conservatives, voted Republican, etc.

[Anne Johnson]

11:54 AM on 05/14/2010

No she sat back and said nothing while her husband's administration was making life miserable for gays just to win an election. There is nothing respectful or respectable about that.

[Bobbi2664]

06:56 AM on 05/14/2010

As someone that was brought up by a mom and dad but had feelings for men and at the same time feeling i was in the wrong body it was easier to say i'm gay i had to wait till my father passed to admit i am trans gendered now that being said my parents were married for 30+ years till she died i'm not their child by birth but i'm adopted but i know i was loved by them and my mom only wanted me to be happy my father he came around the last few years of his life when he realised there was nobody to take care of him i'm hoping one day i will beable to marry my spouse as of now we r just domestic partners and our rights are very limited. but i really want to know is mrs bush why did u wait till u had a book and no longer first lady to say anything ?

[Robert Meek]

10:57 AM on 05/14/2010

A valid question, but equally valid - would her speaking out make a difference?

[stefiz]

11:11 AM on 05/14/2010

if the last year or two in politics has taught me anything it would be that republicans always tow the party line... she can have a opinion now because she is no longer in a position to do anything about it!

[LLeGrande]

06:30 AM on 05/14/2010

Mrs. Bush is a very nice and reasonable woman. However, I take issue with her comment that it's a generational issue.

You see, her husband, a true shill for the religious right - and lots of right wing Republicans knew exactly how to take care of this thorny matter for a very long time:

First - keep marriage a 'states rights' matter.

Then - do state constitutional amendments defining marriage as only between man and woman.

So, it makes no difference in many locations about this 'generational' matter. Because it doesn't matter. It's been locked in using a method leaving no key to unlock it.

The gay marriage matter will be settled by the SCOTUS when this Proposition matter from California comes to the Court. If the Court rules favorably, then all these 'generational' good wishes and lock-ups by states constitutional amendments will be swept away as if by a raging flood looking for a way to the sea - just as when the interracial marriage ban was swept away in Loving v. Virginia.

You see, those religious slimes of the Bush administration and era (including President Cheney) knew exactly how to delay and deny rights to gays.

[Independent12345]

08:47 AM on 05/14/2010

The problem is that a majority of Americans, including President Obama and most elected Democrats, say that marriage should be between a man and a woman. I am in favor of gay marriage -- why should the government get involved in people's personal lives? -- but we live in a democracy. So true change will not come about until a majority of people approve of the change. Maybe the compromise will be to use the phrase "civil union", which would let gay couples have all of the civil rights of marriage without co-opting an emotionally loaded word.

I agree with Mrs. Bush that this is a generational change -- people under "baby boomer age" seem to have more of a "live and let live" attitude on this issue.

[HollyRoger]

12:24 PM on 05/14/2010

Civil rights shouldn't be a voting matter, frankly. If the federal government had allowed rights for African Americans to be determined by popular whim, there would be places in the South to this day that practiced segregation and discrimination. The majority should not always rule, and our country has a proven record (albeit a spotty one) of standing up for civil liberties for minorities even when it's not the popular thing to do.

[SiberianRat]

03:58 AM on 05/14/2010

I'm surprised that Colorado is that high--great. Interesting how Iowa is fairly low. Anyway, apparently even the shrub was starting to back away from his militancy against gay marriage at the end. She's right.

[Christina Sarginson]

02:54 AM on 05/14/2010

Laura Bush commented on gay marriage suggesting that is should remain legal and I agree. If two people are committed to each other and love each other what is the problem. Society do discriminate about this issue and it can cause many people to miss out on a loving and caring relationship.