A couple of weeks ago, a federal judge ruled that Utah's ban on same-sex marriages violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution (which guarantees equal rights for all citizens). The state government got a stay of that decision, and is currently appealing it to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. At that time, I assumed (as did many others) that the state government was probably just following the wishes of a majority of the people of Utah (a very red state). But it looks like I was wrong.The Salt Lake Tribune decided to find out just where the state really stood on the issue, so they got Survey USA to do a poll for them -- and the results of that Salt Lake Tribune / Survey USA Poll was rather eye-opening. It seems that about 36% of the population have changed their views on same-sex marriage, and when that is added to the people who already supported it, we find that the people of Utah are evenly split on the issue right now. About 48% are in favor of same-sex marriage, while an equal 48% are opposed (with the remaining 4% unsure what they think). That's quite a different result that was expected.
The demographic breakdown of those supporting/opposing same sex marriage is in the top chart below. Note that mormons and Republicans have significant majorities opposing it. Democrats and non-mormons have large majorities supporting it. The other groups are pretty evenly split (reflecting the statewide view of all adults).
But what I found most interesting was the bottom chart, which reflects support for allowing same-sex couples to form legal civil unions in the state -- civil unions that would have all the same rights and advantages offered to married couples. Note that every single group, including Republicans and mormons, show a significant majority supporting civil unions between same-sex couples. It seems that, like the people of other states, the people of Utah really do favor equal rights for all of their citizens.
They just stumble over the use of the word "marriage" -- probably because many of them think that marriage is a religious thing. They fail to realize that marriage predates not only mormonism, but all forms of christianity (and even the Old Testament), and that in every state in the union there are both religious and civil marriages (with each carrying the same rights).
Personally, I don't care whether you call it "marriage" or a "civil union" as long as both have the same rights under the law. Equal rights under the law is the most important thing -- not the label put on a loving relationship.
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And while I'm on the subject of same-sex marriages, I want to congratulate Mayor Annise Parker (of Houston) and her spouse. They recently were married. They had to go to California to get it done, because their home state of Texas has not yet joined the civilized world, but they are now officially married -- and regardless of what the Texas right-wing state government thinks of it, they now qualify for all the federal benefits offered to married couples in this country. I wish them a long and very happy marriage.
