Poll: Illinois Voters Unlikely To Support Gay Marriage Amendment

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/06/062205illinois.htm

There is good news and bad news in a new poll on same-sex marriage in Illinois. The poll shows that although a majority of voters would reject a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage most people continue to oppose weddings for gay and lesbian couples.

By a 67% margin Illinois voters oppose amending the Illinois Constitution to ban gay marriage, and by a 70% margin Illinois voters oppose amending the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage. Opposition against both measures ran across every region of the state, every age group and amongst Democrats, Independents and Republicans.

The poll was commissioned by Equality Illinois, the state's largest LGBT civil rights organization and represents the most comprehensive survey ever conducted among Illinois voters on issues toward gays and lesbians.

[marmar]

1. Be vigilant...

The poll numbers were similar in Michigan a year or so before the amendment vote, then Gary Glenn and the American Family Association and the other assorted zealots got busy with their crusade. It probably helps in Illinois that there isn't a presidential election this year, with a president calling for a constitutional amendment amid images of same-sex weddings in Massachussetts and San Francisco. They know that those images stoke fear in homophobic hearts and rally them to action.

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

2. Doesn't surprise me. Illinoisans are smart, have good schools.

They want the separation of church and state, and if that means some gays get married, so be it, but they may not want a gay marriage for themselves or even their own family members (which is sad in a different way, but is intuitively understandable). The questions were probably worded awkwardly.

EDIT: Don't forget that Daley supports gay marriage and also that Illinoisan Phyllis Schlafly's son is gay.