While public acceptance for gay marriage has grown dramatically in recent years, even among many young people who identify as Republicans or evangelical Christians, the issue has still fared poorly among at the polls. Voters in a number of states, including California, have passed constitutional amendments or other limits on same-sex unions.
But this fall’s 2012 could be a different story, as four generally liberal states vote on same sex marriage: Washington, Maine, Minnesota and Maryland.
David Morris, Director of The Public Good initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, has closely examined the arguments on both sides of the issue and prepared The Thoughtful Voter’s Guide to Same-Sex Marriage: A Tool for the Decided, the Undecided and the Thoroughly Perplexed, which is available on line here. It can be downloaded for kindle or as an e-book or e-pub. To inquire about print copies, contact “here”:dmorris@ilsr.org.
Morris (who contributes regularly to OTC) does an admirable job in examining the historical roots of this controversial debate, noting that some of the arguments challenging the legalization of contraception, interracial marriage and divorce are now being used to oppose same-sex marriage. He also notes that many religious denominations support same-sex unions. In Minnesota, for instance, synods representing at least half of the state’s 800,000 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America members and the general assembly of the United Methodist Church both oppose the constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage.
Supporters of gay marriage will be better prepared to make their case after reading Morris’s outline of the arguments same-sex opponents use.
