A recent poll suggests that the current generation, unlike their parents, strongly support same-sex marriage—a major shift in public opinion even from the liberal Baby Boomers. Millennials, as is often reported, are more diverse and better educated than their parents, likely a major contributing factor to their more liberal outlook.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports:
Like their parents’ generation, most young Americans believe abortion should be legal. But unlike their older relatives, most also support same-sex marriage, according to a survey released Thursday by the Public Religion Research Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization.
Sixty percent of so-called millennials — Americans between ages 18 and 29 — believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, a percentage similar to those among Americans between ages 30 and 64. But when it comes to same-sex marriage, 57 percent of millennials support the idea compared with much lower percentages among older Americans.
“In recent election cycles, the so-called ‘values voter’ agenda has often been distilled to abortion and same-sex marriage. Yet these two controversial topics are no longer necessarily linked in the minds of Americans,” according to the “Millennials, Religion & Abortion Survey,” which claims to be the largest national survey ever on abortion and religion, based on 3,000 interviews.
According to the survey, millennials are different from older generations in that they’re more diverse, less religious and will likely become the most educated generation in U.S. history. “One of the most politically important ways that millennials differ from other cohorts is their attitudes about gender roles and sexual morality,” according to the report.
Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Utah Pride Center, said she is not surprised by the results. In her center’s statewide work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and heterosexual Utahns, she said, she has noticed that younger generations tend to be more accepting of same-sex marriages.
What do you think—what can this change in the younger generation tell us about how American society will shift in the future?
2 thoughts on “Young Americans Support Same-Sex Marriage”
It’s very frustrating, being in the 18-30 year age group. Because, although people in that age group, (such as myself, and I’m almost 25) are adults and are technically on the same playing field as everyone on earth over the age of 18, we’re really not. And the reason why, is politics. Most politicians are around 40 or older. Most people who hold those positions of power to affect how things are run are of our parents and our grandparents generations. (And let’s be honest here, most people of those generations are quite a bit less tolerant and open-minded than the generation I belong to.)
In other words, although 18-30 year olds are adults who lead their own lives, technically, our parents are still running our lives, in the form of politicians who are from our parent’s and grandparent’s generations. I, personally, can’t wait for the day when the peers in my age-group are old enough to finally hold those same positions of political power. Maybe then, if you’ll pardon my language, America will get it’s head out of it’s ass and culturally catch up to the rest of the civilized world. (No offense, but this is one of the many reasons much of the world, especially Scandinavia, laughs at us.)
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