Caveat up front: I don’t care if two gay people want to tell themselves they’re married to each other. I don’t understand why they need society’s approval — not just tolerance, but absolute approval — of whatever they think is due them by right. But if they’re going to throw a fit, let the babies have their way.
That said, I honestly don’t understand why the following poll matters one way or another. Peyton M. Craighill and Scott Clement, WaPo:
Half of all Americans believe that gay men and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll in which a large majority also said businesses should not be able to deny serving gays for religious reasons.
Fifty percent say the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection gives gays the right to marry, while 41 percent say it does not.
And how many of those 50% cited the relevant amendment (14th)? How many of them know the Constitution even has amendments? How many of them know what the Constitution is?
We don’t know, because nobody asked them. They were just given a Yes/No question, and half of them said “Yes” because currently it’s not trendy to be bigoted against anybody except white heterosexual Christians. (Boooo!)
If you really, really want something, it becomes a “right.” For example, I really, really want free beer for life. After all, other people protect themselves against sobriety all the time. Why shouldn’t my protection be equal? Why should my access be denied? I have rights! It’s in the Consultation or whatever, you wingnuts!
The same people who want to twist the 14th Amendment to mean whatever they want will then turn right around and tell us the 2nd Amendment is outdated.
I’m not sure why they’re bringing the Constitution into it anyway. It’s not like Obama follows it. Why should anybody who voted for him?