Mike Gronstal on Gay Marriage

While 41% Americans under 45 support legalizing gay marriage, only 18% of Americans over 65 agree, and nearly half of seniors do not think there should be any legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Americans between 45 and 64 generally support some form of civil unions between same-sex couples, though only 29% think same-sex couples should marry.

Antigay Behaviors Among Young Adults
Prevalence, Patterns, and Motivators in a Noncriminal Population
KAREN FRANKLIN

Private Practice, El Cerrito, California

This is the first empirical research into prevalence rates of and motivations for antigay harassment and violence by noncriminal young adults. In an anonymous survey of 484 young adults, 1 in 10 admitted physical violence or threats against presumed homosexuals, and another 24% acknowledged name-calling. Factor analyses revealed four motivational themes: peer dynamics, antigay ideology, thrill-seeking, and perceived self-defense. Compared with nonassailants, assailants held more negative attitudes toward homosexuals and reported more negative social norms among their friends. Assailants also had higher levels of masculinity ideology and social drinking. The findings suggest that many young adults believe antigay harassment and violence is socially acceptable, particularly in response to inferred sexual innuendos or gender norms violations. Because antigay behaviors are culturally normative and usually go unreported, educational outreach to adolescents and preadolescents is likely to be a more effective prevention strategy than criminal prosecutions under special hate crimes laws.

April 3, 2009 4:19 PM
Poll: Americans Divided On Gay Marriage




(CBS/AP)
As the Iowa Supreme Court overturns a ban on same-sex marriage, Americans overall remain divided on the issue, a newly released CBS News poll finds.

Although six in 10 Americans think some form of legal recognition is appropriate for same-sex couples, only a third of Americans think those couples should be allowed to marry.

Another 27 percent of Americans support civil unions for same-sex couples, while 35 percent thinks there should be no legal recognition of same-sex relationships at all.

Americans are somewhat more supporting of gay marriage or civil unions than they were in 2004. Then just 22 percent supported gay marriage and 40 percent said there should be no legal recognition of same-sex relationships.
Read The Complete Poll
Support for legalizing same-sex marriage has remained about the same for the past two years.

How Americans feel about the issue of same-sex marriage varies greatly upon their age, gender, political affiliations, and the regions of the country from where they live.

While 41 percent Americans under 45 support legalizing gay marriage, only 18 percent of Americans over 65 agree, and nearly half of seniors do not think there should be any legal recognition of same-sex marriage.

Americans between 45 and 64 generally support some form of civil unions between same-sex couples, though only 29 percent think same-sex couples should marry.

Women (38 percent) are more likely than men (27 percent) to support same-sex marriage, by a margin of 11 percentage points.

Republicans, conservatives, and white evangelicals oppose any legal recognition of same-sex couples, while Democrats and liberals are more likely to support same-sex marriage.

Regionally, same-sex marriage is most popular in the Northeast (44 percent support) - where Massachusetts and Connecticut have already established same-sex marriage as legal " and it is popular in the West (38 percent support). Same-sex marriage is far less popular in the Midwest (30 percent) and the South (25 percent).

E. Glenn Schellenberg, Jessie Hirt and Alan Sears

Abstract We examined attitudes toward homosexuals amonga broad selection of undergraduates (101 men, 98 women)attending a Canadian university, where a vast majorityof the students are from working- or middle-class families of European descent. Attitudes towardgay men were more negative than attitudes towardlesbians. Compared to Science or Business students,students in the faculties of Arts or Social Science had more positive attitudes toward gay men, andwomen were more positive than men. Attitudes toward gaymen also improved with time spent at college, but onlyfor male students. Although attitudes toward lesbians improved with time at college, they were notassociated with students'' gender or faculty ofenrollment. Thus, a college education may promote a reduction in anti-homosexual prejudice among young people, particularly among young men.

Résumé / Abstract
This paper seeks to import a more complex understanding of gendered subjectivity into discussions of young people and homosexuality, and is based on an Australian national survey (n=749) of same-sex attracted youth (SSAY) aged between 14 and 21. Results revealed significant gender differences with regard to patterns of sexual attraction, behaviour and identity labels among participants. For the young men in the study, there was more congruence between feelings of gender a-typicality, same-sex attractions and same-sex behaviours. Overall, young women displayed more fluidity with regard to their sexual feelings, behaviours and identities. Young women were more likely to be engaged in private explorations of lesbianism, concurrent with participation in heterosexual sex and relationships. Young women were also grappling with more limited and emotionally risky opportunities for sex with other girls who were already known to them as friends. The invisibility of lesbianism as an identity or practice led to confusion about what feelings meant for the future in the arena of lived experience. The paper concludes that more research is needed into the impact of gender on the development of young people's experiences of homosexuality, particularly the manner in which invisibility and lack of social acceptance of a full spectrum of sexual diversity may disadvantage young women's emotional health and well-being.

And it’s not like the young audience to whom the HSM franchise is aimed doesn’t read between the lines. After AfterElton.com ran an interview with Simpatico and officially “outed” Ryan, one teen blogger linked to the story under the headline, “BREAKING NEWS! Ryan Evans is Gay! Also the Sun is Hot and the Sky is Blue!”