Gay Marriage as of 2012

by chawacha

Gay marriage in the United States is one of the most controversial and rapidly changing social discussions in the United States today. As I will discuss in this blog, many events of this year and laws of the past are continuously forming the opinions of citizens across the country. Many of the images that we see in newspapers and on the internet influence either consciously or subconsciously our opinion of LGBT individuals and same-sex marriage.

To bring you up-to-date on where the country stands on the issue, let me introduce some statistics:

According to a Gallup Poll on October 18th, 2012, approximately 3.4% of all Americans openly identified as a sexual minority. This number can be assumed to be larger than is reported. Many LGBT individuals are “in the closet,” or not openly LGBT. The actual number may very well be higher than 3.4%.

Also recorded by Gallup, is that more U.S. citizens support gay marriage than oppose it. Last year this number was a little higher, with about 53% of the country supporting gay marriage, but 50% of the country supports it this year. It will be extremely intriguing to see where the number will land in the following years.

This map from Talking Points Memo shows the current status of gay marriage state by state. As there is no federal decision on gay marriage, each state has a different policy. These policies range from full-support, to constitutional amendments prohibiting gay marriage.

These are the numbers:

6 States allowing same-sex marriage: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, (Also Washington D.C.)

States with passed proposals: Washington, Maryland

States with previous measures or highly-debated measures: California, New Jersey, Maine

5 states allowing civil unions, but not marriage

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This blog provides information on certain events that form the gay marriage debate, and the editorial cartoons that portray the evens. As you search through this blog, I hope you will gain an understanding of how editorial cartoons contribute both positively and negatively to the same-sex marriage debate in this country. I hope also that you will consider your own opinions on the debate and how you came to those conclusions. Most of all, I hope you learn something new.