Gay Marriage Will Happen

TW: Maine overturned declined to accept gay marriage on Tuesday. A setback for gay rights advocates (Maine is not Utah so if they are not ready to move then there is some distance to cover yet) but as these charts show it is only a matter of time. The tides are headed one way and as older less accommodating folks pass on the tides will accelerate. But these numbers have come a long way in a short period of time.

I understand folk's impatience but these things take time. Rights are only truly valuable if a strong majority perceive them to be legitimate and valid. Clearly majorities do not yet agree with gay marriage. Gay marriage (as opposed to civil unions which themselves are relatively new) was barely even on the radar screen of viable social policy ten years ago. The evolution of African-Americans from slaves to full rights took over 200 years. Gays emerged very tentatively from the closet forty years ago and far more aggressively within the past twenty.

Gays especially as it relates to the concept of marriage as opposed to the legal rights and obligations associated with civil unions are seeking the imprimatur of society. Courts and calling marriage opponents bigots and idiots will not validate this imprimatur. Persuasion and reason based upon the merits will lead to this fundamental change in terms of how the majority of Americans view gay marriage. Transitioning from legal rights to folk's belief systems is big step. Changing beliefs takes time, force feeding a belief system risks counter-productive results.