Six in ten Americans now support same-sex marriage.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that same sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, support for same-sex marriage has increased substantially. Currently, more than six in ten (61%) Americans say gay and lesbian couples should be able to marry legally, while only about half as many (30%) are opposed.
Strength of support for same-sex marriage has increased dramatically over the past decade, while strength of opposition has fallen in nearly equal measure.
This should not be surprising. After all, there have been no major seismic events since Obergefell, no meteor strikes — life goes on about as it always has. So why care?
There is this, too, and it’s important: The busybodies who do care are the strongest, most resolute supporters of the most corrupt, godawful chief executive the country has ever seen; evangelical support — or disapprobation, as the case may be — is evolving into (Biblical allusion warning) the kiss of death. Ironic, no?
Nobody will be surprised to learn that the six states whose populations exhibit less than majority support for same-sex marriage are in the so-called Bible Belt.
In only six states does the issue of same-sex marriage garner less than majority support: Alabama (41%), Mississippi (42%), Tennessee (46%), West Virginia (48%), Louisiana (48%), and North Carolina (49%).
Since the opposition to same-sex marriage is grounded in religion, that should be no surprise. But theology always catches-up to the zeitgeist, and even Baptist preachers aren’t suicidal: they will figure it out, and they will decide that maybe the Big Guy doesn’t care so much about something that congregants do care about. Guaranteed: The day is not far off when even Southern Baptist churches will advertise themselves as ‘welcoming to all.’