AP looks at the recent victories for the pro-equality side in the Bowling Green ballot measures as the basis for a longer article on how the trend is moving in the right direction:
Nationally, gay-rights supporters and their conservative opponents are trading victories and setbacks, and the public is deeply divided on same-sex marriage. Could the push for full equality be stalled or reversed? Probably not, if public opinion evolves at its current pace.
“All you have to do is look at the demographics and you can see this is as inevitable as anything,” said Michael Klarman, a Harvard Law School professor who has studied the civil rights and gay rights movements.
Surveys repeatedly find that young adults, far more so than their elders, support the rights of gays to marry and serve openly in the military. A Gallup poll earlier this year showed, for the first time, a majority of Americans saying same-sex relations were morally acceptable. Increasing numbers of Americans personally know gays and lesbians, and positive portrayals of them abound on TV and in films.
“The more gay-friendly an environment you create, the more people come out as gay,” Klarman said. “When people know other people are gay – family, co-workers – they find it harder and harder to dislike them and deny them equal rights.”
The article is worth a read. Not much new for those who keep a close eye on LGBT politics. We’re making progress. The haters really hate us and will do everything possible to thwart equality.
