Opposition to gay unions grows

The same day that many celebrated the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that gay and lesbian couples can marry, a new national poll shows Americans oppose legalizing gay marriage by almost 2-to-1, and as of late opposition has grown slightly.

Those most opposed are those who consider themselves most religiously committed.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released its survey Tuesday, just hours after the Massachusetts decision. The survey of 1,515 adults, conducted Oct. 15-19 in conjunction with the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press, found 59 percent oppose legalizing gay marriage, while 32 percent favor it.

The number opposed to legalizing gay marriage has actually risen slightly since July, according to the Pew Forum, when a similar poll found 53 percent opposed.

Yet only 10 percent of those opposed in the most recent survey believe the U.S. Constitution should "be amended to ban gay marriage," with 42 percent of those opposed saying that a simple legal ban on the practice would suffice.

The numbers differed widely from a July survey by CNN/USA Today/Gallup, which found 50 percent favored a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Some 80 percent of those who rate themselves as highly committed to their religious faith oppose gay marriage, with 57 percent of "average" commitment respondents opposed.

But reaction varies by denomination.

The Rev. Troy D. Perry, founder and moderator of California-based Metropolitan Community Church — which has congregations in Utah — said history "will view today's decision . . . as one of the most significant steps in our ongoing struggle for equality under the law."

Mark J. Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said the ruling is "a landmark step toward ensuring the right of gay and lesbian Americans to share in the joys, and privileges, of marriage."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has consistently opposed gay marriage and on Tuesday reiterated that in a statement saying "marriage is a union between one man and one woman."

The nation's Catholic bishops addressed the issue during their annual meeting in Washington earlier this month, saying marriage "whose nature and purposes are established by God, can only be the union of a man and a woman and must remain such in law."

Michael Minch, a philosophy instructor at Utah Valley State College, said the case poses an interesting juxtaposition of moral and religious feeling against political expediency. "In some cases we don't want to make illegal, certain things that are immoral, but in other cases what we consider to be immoral we also want to be illegal."