When Will Majority Support Of Marriage Equality Equal Marriage Equality?

Opposition to same-sex marriage has never been lower, and marriage equality support is near an all-time high, according to a Gallup poll released today. In the fifteen years that Gallup has asked America about same-sex marriage, opposition has generally moved downward, starting at 68 percent in 1996, and moving to 53 percent today. Support has grown from a mere 27 percent — the first time the question was asked — to a high of 46 percent in 2007, and dropping to 44 percent now.

We've managed to reduce opposition very slowly, some might say: an average of one percent per year. Right now, there is only a nine percentage point difference between those opposed and those in support of marriage equality, the so-called "movable middle."

The largest groups working against the trend toward marriage equality, unsurprisingly, identify as Conservative, Republican, and view religion as "very important." Additionally, they are more likely to live in the South or the Midwest.

Marriage equality supporters, conversely, are overwhelmingly Democrats and Liberals, view religion as not important, and live in the Eastern or Western parts of the country.

While these numbers merely maintain the conventional wisdom that a majority of Americans will support marriage equality within the next decade, we have to ask ourselves, and our political leaders, if this is good enough, or fast enough. More importantly, how much longer after a majority of Americans ultimately support marriage equality — and they will, in time —  will we see the will of the majority translate into legal protections and social acceptance for all LGBT Americans?

For example, take "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." For years, a majority of Americans have opposed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," (Gallup puts the number currently at 70%,) and yet today, even despite presidential direction and support from senior military leaders, we've had to work especially hard, including staging acts of civil disobedience, withholding political contributions, and repeated Congressional lobbying, to come close to the possibility of repeal. The president claims to support a repeal of DOMA as well, yet there has been little conversation, much less movement, surrounding that issue. And ENDA has been in Congress since 1994. When will these pillars of the LGBT agenda be realized?

Politicians, especially in the GOP, are fond of claiming to know what "the American people want." As more and more of the American people want full equality for all citizens, when will our representatives acknowledge that desire and work for full and unqualified equality — on all fronts — for all Americans?

Photo credit: jetheriot