Gay marriage movement wins significant victories in 2013

LA Times ^ | December 9, 2013 | Morgan Little

[kobald]

The last year marked a number of milestones for the gay marriage movement, as it adds to its list of legal and legislative victories, earning approval from a majority of Americans along the way.

The two largest victories came from the Supreme Court in June, when justices struck down the Defense of Marriage Act preventing same-sex couples from receiving federal benefits, and invalidated an effort to restore California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage...

On the legislative front, six states, Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, Hawaii and Illinois, legalized gay marriage in 2013, with marriages taking place in each state save for Illinois, where the law will be effective June 1, 2014.

That makes for a total of 16 states where gay marriage is legal. Four states, Oregon, Nevada, Wisconsin and Colorado, also allow civil unions for same-sex couples.

And the gay rights movement as a whole is only becoming more popular nationwide, leading many to speculate that it’s the fastest-moving civil rights movement in U.S. history. A July Gallup poll found that 54% of Americans think same-sex couples should be given the same rights as heterosexual couples. And in that same poll, 52% of Americans said they would vote for a law legalizing same-sex marriages across the country...

[cradle of freedom]

They use intensive propaganda methods which sweeps the public along in a public relations tsunami. I think the reelection of Obama also created a lot of momentum and a feeling of inevitability that liberals had won the culture war. If Obama had lost I think it would have slowed down that feeling that “history was on their side”, as liberals like to say.

[Terry L Smith]

— I — will never support these bassards, period.

[highball]

“I predicted this a couple of years ago and was robustly chastised on this forum for doing so. I don’t approve, but I do recognize the trend and where it is headed.”

There is a certain contingent happy to put their heads in the sand and pretend we’re secretly really winning this fight. You and I would rather face unpleasant facts so that we might change them.

[Sherman Logan]

There is a certain contingent happy to put their heads in the sand and pretend we’re secretly really winning this fight.

I presume it was the same contingent that carefully pointed out the statistical flaws in the polls prior to the last election, confidently predicting a Romney victory.

What actually happened, of course, is that the polls turned out to be remarkably accurate.

[highball]

Yep, that’s it in a nutshell.

When the “un-skewed polls” were revealed as a lie, the excuse-makers shifted into this bizarre massive-voter-fraud conspiracy theories to avoid dealing with harsh reality.

Myself, I’d rather take the harsh look at our tactics and find new ones that might actually work.

[Sherman Logan]

bizarre massive-voter-fraud conspiracy theories

Yup. Especially the "retail" voter fraud conspiracy theories (one person, or many, voting many times).

"Wholesale" voter fraud, at the counting stage, is a legitimate issue. MUCH easier to coordinate than retail.