Search results for support gay marriage

It’s Valentine’s Day, and my social media feed is more snarky than smarmy. The Hallmark holiday gets us thinking about love, but it also highlights our unquestioned assumptions about romantic relationships. The culture of love is tied up in all kinds of expectations: what we buy, how we date, even who does the dishes. A lot of sociological thought works to make these assumptions explicit, breaking them down to reveal the (sometimes sad) truth that many of us haven’t really thought that much about how we really want to love and be loved. 

But social science isn’t always depressing! Some recent work actually has pretty good news about the state of our romantic relationships. One example is Philip Cohen’s article published in Socius last year on “The Coming Divorce Decline.” Where many of us have gotten used to a story about rising divorce rates over the past few decades, Cohen finds that the probability of divorce for women has been declining from 2008 to 2017. Especially encouraging, he also finds that the probability of divorce for newly married women has been declining over same time period. 

In the article, Cohen writes:

…because the risk profile for newly married couples has shifted toward more protective characteristics, it appears certain that—barring unforeseen changes—divorce rates will further decline in the coming years.

And he even highlights how new data supported this prediction from an earlier draft of the paper!

Another example is a recent op-ed from Stephanie Coontz in The New York Times: “How to Make Your Marriage Gayer.” This piece is packed with current social science on relationships, from how couples split the housework to how they handle stress. One big takeaway from the research is better reported relationship outcomes for same-sex couples, and Coontz explains this in terms of our unquestioned assumptions about our love lives. Heterosexual couples tend to revert to more traditional assumptions about gender and relationship roles. But with fewer assumptions about gender and family roles at play, same-sex couples often have to (gasp!) openly talk about their needs, negotiate expectations, and generally do the things that make a relationship really strong.

So, if you’re grumpy this Valentine’s Day, remember that there’s some good news as well. As we learn more about what makes relationships work, we make it easier to navigate romance in a more open and honest way.

Evan Stewart is an assistant professor of sociology at University of Massachusetts Boston. You can follow his work at his website, on Twitter, or on BlueSky.

In 1970, the day after National Guard troops killed four unarmed protesters at Kent State University, students at Southern Illinois University went to the local McDonald’s and demanded that the flag be lowered to half staff.  The franchise owner complied.

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s got wind of this and told the franchise owner to raise the flag back up to full staff. When he conplied, the students threatened to burn the place down.

The whipsawed franchise owner phoned McDonald’s CEO Fred Turner asking what to do. If Turner’s response isn’t part of the canon of management courses, it ought to be:  “The next delivery truck that arrives, have him back in to the flag pole and knock it down.”

Lands’ End now finds itself in a similar position but with no flagpole and no trucks.

You may have noticed that the most Lands’ End catalogue looks different from the other 273 they’ve sent you this year. Lots of people in a tableau rather than close ups of one model in merch. And palm trees. Palm trees? From Wisconsin? The paper too is less slick, with more of a matte finish. But what has landed Lands’ End in hot water is the four-page interview with Gloria Steinem wearing Lands’ End gear. (The text in the upper right begins, “Introducing the Legend Series, our ode to individuals who have made a difference . . . .”)

The message of these earlier moves seemed to be that the companies were willing to stake out a position they felt strongly about, even if it meant alienating some customers. Lands’ End, it appears, may have a different mindset.

Is it Lands’ End, or is it the issue? After the Charleston Church Massacre of June 2015, retreating from the Confederate flag became the majority view even in the South.

The trend on gay marriage has also made acceptance a safe bet:

Jay Livingston is the chair of the Sociology Department at Montclair State University. You can follow him at Montclair SocioBlog or on Twitter.

The Pew Research Global Attitudes Project recently released data on attitudes about homosexuality in 39 countries. Generally, those living in the Middle East and Africa were the least accepting, while those in the Americas, Europe, and parts of Asia (the Philippines, Australia, and to a lesser extent Japan) were most accepting:

Generally, the more religious a country, the less accepting its citizens are of homosexuality:

The proportion of people who support social acceptance of gays and lesbians ranged from a high of 88% in Spain to a low of 1% in Nigeria:

Attitudes about homosexuality vary widely by age. There is a pretty consistent global pattern of more positive attitudes among younger people, with a few exceptions:

Thus far, legalization of same-sex marriage has been largely confined to the Americas and Europe; New Zealand and South Africa are the two outliers:

The Pew Center points out that of the 15 nations that have fully extended marriage rights to same-sex couples, 8 have done so just since 2010. In the U.S., we’re currently awaiting a Supreme Court’s decision, which should arrive shortly, to know if we’ll be joining the list sooner rather than later.

Thanks to Peter Nardi at Pitzer College for the link!Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.

For the last week of December, we’re re-posting some of our favorite posts from 2012.

In Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans’ Definitions of Family, released last month, authors Brian Powell, Catherine Bolzendahl, Claudia Geist, and Lala Carr Steelman look at how Americans conceptualize “the family” — that is, not what they think about their own families, but what they think counts as a family. Which groups or living arrangements do they include in the definition of “family,” and who is excluded?

Based on surveys conducted in 2003 and 2006, Americans still hold the stereotypical nuclear family (husband, wife, kids) as the gold standard — virtually everyone agrees that such a group counts as a family. Being legally married, or the presence of children, generally leads to acceptance of a grouping as a family — the overwhelming majority believed single parents and their children count as families, as do married heterosexual couples without kids, and even unmarried heterosexual couples who have children. But when couples are same-sex, or don’t have kids, Americans are much less certain that they can qualify as a family. In 2006, the percent of respondents believing gay or lesbian couples with kids are families was notably smaller than for those agreeing that single parents or straight couples count, though it had increased since 2003:

And notice the importance of children to definitions of family — only a minority of respondents thought that gay, lesbian, or straight couples without kids are a family.

The authors divided respondents into three groups, based on their answers: exclusionists (those with the most restrictive definitions of family), moderates, and inclusionists (those with the most expansive definitions). Looking at the words these groups used as the talked about their characterizations of family, we see clear differences. The words used most frequently by exclusionists highlight the centrality of marriage, as well as an emphasis on what type of people constitute a family (husband, wife, woman, man), and the explicit inclusion of religious-based elements in their ideas of what makes a family:

The language used by inclusionists emphasized emotional attachments rather than the legal institution of marriage as the basis for determining what counts as a family:

Women were more inclusive than men, in general:

The more educated respondents were, the more inclusive their definitions of family tended to be:

The Russell Sage Foundation released these and many other charts and tables from the book, so it’s definitely worth a look if you’re interested in how Americans think about the family. Overall, the authors found that definitions of the family were becoming more inclusive. Presumably this trend has continued and even accelerated since the 2006 survey, given how attitudes have shifted on a number of issues involving gay and lesbian rights in the past few years.Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.

JUST THE HIGHLIGHTS!

• Who Would the World Elect?
• Why Don’t People Vote?
• Who Would Have Won If…
• Climate Denial and American Voluntarism
• Including “God” in Republican and Democratic Platforms (pictured)
• Rape and Other “Gifts” from God
• Mitt Romney and the 47% Meme
• A Century of Voting Patterns
• Religion and Race among Democrats and Republicans
• The Decreasing Significance of Election Day

ALL OUR COVERAGE OF THE 2012 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

History:

• A Century of Voting Patterns
• Trends in the Polarization of U.S. Politics
• The Election and the Economy

Culture and Psychology:

• Who Would the World Elect?
• Climate Denial and American Voluntarism
• Have Obama Conspiracy Theories Lost Traction?
• Words: The Democratic and Republican Conventions
• Abstract Preferences and Real Choices

Religion:

• Including “God” in Republican and Democratic Platforms (pictured)
• Religion and Race among Democrats and Republicans

Media:

• News Media Make Men the Experts on “Women’s Issues”
• Who’s Reporting the News: An Analysis by Race and Ethnicity
• The CNN Opener for the Southern Republican Presidential Debate

Money:

• TV Ad Spending for the Presidential Campaign
• Political Donations: The Name on the Check

Race:

• Voting for a Black President: 2008 and Tomorrow
• This Election’s Deep Racial Divide
• Are All the Racists on the Right?
• Testing the Racializing Influence of Romney’s Welfare Ad
• Race and Politics in Appalachia
• Newt Racism: The Racially-Coded Language of Presidential Candidates

Class:

• How Obama’s Comment about “Bitter” Conservatives is Not the Same as Romney’s Dismissal of the 47%
• Mitt Romney and the 47% Meme
• Shareholders vs. Stakeholders

Sexual Orientation:

• Political Affiliation and Support for Same Sex Marriage
• Presidential Candidates’ Positions on Gay Rights

Gender:

• How are Women Voting? And Why?
• Rape and Other “Gifts” from God
• The Science of Lady Parts and the GOP
• Reifying Gender in Election Coverage
• Paul Ryan Doubles Down on His Popularity Among Young Men
• Election 2012 Sexism Watch

After the Election:

• Who Would Have Won If…
• How Did Latinos Vote?

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Cross-posted at Montclair SocioBlog.

If a person thinks that the media are infiltrating his mind and controlling his thoughts and behavior, we consider him a nutjob, and we recommend professional help and serious meds.  But if a person thinks that the media are infiltrating other people’s minds and affecting their behavior, we call him or her an astute social observer, one eminently qualified to give speeches or write op-eds.

The previous post dwelt on economist Isabel Sawhill’s Washington Post op-ed channeling Dan Quayle, particularly Quayle’s speech asserting that a TV sitcom was wielding a strong effect on people’s decisions — not just decisions like Pepsi vs. Coke, but decisions like whether to have a baby.

That was Quayle, this is now.  Still, our current vice-president can sometimes resemble his counterpart of two decades ago.  Just a last month, Joe Biden echoed the Quayle idea on the power of sitcoms.  On “Meet the Press,” in response to David Gregory’s question about gay marriage, Biden said that “this is evolving” and added:

And by the way, my measure, David, and I take a look at when things really begin to change, is when the social culture changes.  I think “Will and Grace” probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody’s ever done so far.

“Will and Grace” ran for eight seasons, 1998-2006.  Its strongest years were 2001-2005, when it was the top rated show among the 18-49 crowd. Biden could point to General Social Survey (GSS) data on the gay marriage question.  In 1988, ten years before “Will and Grace,” the GSS asked about gay marriage.  Only 12% supported it, 73% opposed it.  The question was asked again in 2004, six years into the W+G era.  Support had more than doubled, and it continued to rise in subsequent years.

We don’t know just when in that 18-year period, 1988-2004, things “really began to change.”  Fortunately, the GSS more regularly asked the respondent’s view on sexual relations between same-sex partners.  Here too, tolerance grows in the “Will and Grace” period (gray on the graph):

The graph is misleading, though. To see the error, all we need do is extend our sampling back a few years  Here is the same graph starting in 1973:

The GSS shows attitudes about homosexuality starting to change in 1990.  By the time of the first episode of “Will and Grace,” the proportion seeing nothing wrong with homosexuality had already doubled.  Like Quayle’s “Murphy Brown” effect, the “Will and Grace” effect is hard to see.

The flaw in the Quayle-Biden method is not in mistaking TV for reality.  It’s in assuming that the public’s awareness is simultaneous with their own.

Why do our vice-presidents (and many other people) give so much credit (or blame) to a popular TV show for a change in public opinion?  The error is partly a simplistic post hoc logic.   “Will and Grace” gave us TV’s first gay principle character; homosexuality became more acceptable.  Murphy Brown was TV’s first happily unwed mother, and in the following years, single motherhood increased.   Besides, we know that these shows are watched by millions of people each week.  So it must be the show that is causing the change.

It’s also possible that our vice-presidents (and many other people) may also have been projecting their own experiences onto the general public.  Maybe Murphy Brown was the first or only unwed mother that Dan Quayle really knew – or at least she was the one he knew best.  It’s possible that Joe Biden wasn’t familiar with any gay men, not in the way we feel we know TV characters.  A straight guy might have some gay acquaintances or co-workers, but it’s the fictional Will Truman whose private life he could see, if only for a half hour every week.

Does TV matter?  When we think about our own decisions, we are much more likely to focus on our experiences and on the pulls and pushes of family, work, and friends.  We generally don’t attribute much causal weight to the sitcoms we watch.  Why then are we so quick to see these shows as having a profound influence on other people’s behavior, especially behavior we don’t like?   Maybe because it’s such an easy game to play.  Is there more unwed motherhood?  Must be “Murphy Brown.”  Did obesity increase in the 1990s?  “Roseanne.”  Are twentysomethings and older delaying marriage?  “Seinfeld” and “Friends.” And of course “The Simpsons,” or at least Bart and Homer, who can be held responsible for a variety of social ills.

SocImages Updates:

The University of Cinncinati’s J.A. Carter has put together a fabulous resource: a Course Guide for Sociology of Sport classes.

Gwen has put together a new Pinterest page.  This is our 16th and it covers various attempts by marketers to Masculinize Femininized Products in order to sell them to men.

An article tracing the history and philosophy of SocImages is now in pre-publication.  Feel free to email socimages@thesocietypages.org for a copy if you’d like one.

In the News:

Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter and other books, offered a blush-inducing review of SocImages at her website.

Peg Streep discussed Lisa’s research on hook up culture in Psychology Today: Finding Anastasia Steele and Looking for Christian Grey.

Matt Cornell’s fantastic post on his “man-boobs” was featured, in French, at Rue89.

Our fabulous four-part series on LEGO’s history of marketing (and not marketing) to girls, by David Pickett, was featured at Boing Boing, Neatorama, and HuffPo Parents.

Finally, this month we enjoyed being linked from sites the likes of Cracked, Kotaku, Utne Reader, TVTropes, Good, Gamasutra, AdWeek, and Business Insider.

Most Popular in May:

• Student’s Brain Flatlines During Class
• The Story of My Man-Boobs
• The Difference Between “i.e.” and “e.g.”
• Holes in the Social Fabric: An Artist Quilts the Foreclosure Crisis
• Depp’s “Tonto” Costume Based on a Non-Native’s Wild Imagination
• “Nude,” Racial Marginalization and the Wedding Industry
• Support for Gay Marriage Rising in Every Demographic
• Equal Opportunity for Idealized Employees
• The “Motherhood Penalty”
• The U.S. #1 in Health Costs
• Framing North Carolina’s Amendment One
• Historical Perspective on the LEGO Gender Gap

Social Media ‘n’ Stuff:

Finally, this is your monthly reminder that SocImages is on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest.  Lisa is on Facebook and most of the team is on Twitter: @lisadwade, @gwensharpnv, @familyunequal, @carolineheldman, @jaylivingston, and @wendyphd.

Course Guide for
SEXUALITY AND SOCIETY
(last updated 01/2012)

Developed by Amanda M. Jungels
Georgia State University

Integrating/Interrogating Biological and Social Views of Sexuality

Challenging Evolutionary Perspectives on Sex/Sexuality

• Challenging Evolutionary-Biology Perspectives on Mating Strategies

Social Construction of (Biological) Sex

• The Question of Caster Semenya’s Sex
• “Creating” Normative Genitals
• Conflating Gender, Sex, and Sexual Orientation

Social Construction: Changing Views on Sexuality

• Buy Virginity for Just $14.99
• Marketing the Tampon: “Will I Still Be A Virgin?”
• Changing Biology: Age at First Menstruation
• Masturbation and “Social Hygiene” in 1922

Sexuality and Social Categories

Social Construction of Gender

• Teens and Transgendered Women: Threats to Society
• On the J. Crew Pink Toenails “Controversy”
• Semenya’s Makeover: Gender as Performance
• “Some Men Just Need to Be Slapped”: Policing Masculinity
• A Beauty Regime for the “New Man”
• Karate Studio Ad: Gender Policing and Unofficial Marketing Materials
• One Family’s Experience with “Curing” Gender Non-Conformity

Transgender/Third Gender/Gender Queer

• On Being Gender Queer
• A Third Gender in Oaxaca, Mexico
• Argentinian Bank Depicts Transgendered Positively

Social Construction of Sexual Orientation

• How Useful is the Concept of Sexual Orientation?
• Are We Born Gay? And If We Were, How Would We Know?
• What Seems “Gay”?
• Was Franklin D. Roosevelt Gay?
• What Does a “Prehomosexual” Look Like?
• Homosexuality and Our Collective Consciousness
• Destabilizing Heteronormativity
• Normalizing Lesbian Couples
• Gay Couple in Budweiser’s “Coming Home” Ad?
• Survey Finds Different Levels of Acceptance for “Gays” Versus “Homosexuals”
• “Homosexual” vs. “Gay”: Discourse in the Culture Wars
• Public Opinion on the Cause of Homosexuality

Learning about Sex/Sex Education           

Sex Education

• How Government Policies Impact Sex Education and Reproduction
• Sources of Sex Education Information for Teens
• Teens as Objects of Control
• British TV Commercial Promotes Abortion Services
• Anti-Teen Pregnancy PSA
• Teen Motherhood Sucks…Unless You’re Bristol Palin

Abstinence vs. Comprehensive Sex Ed

• Boys Receive Less Sexuality Education Than Girls
• Explaining Variation in Teen Pregnancy Rates by State: Race and Sex Education
• Consequences of U.S. and Dutch Approaches to Teen Sex
• Sexing Up Abstinence
• Abstinence Billboards

Sexual Practices

• Sexual Orientation and Sexual Behavior: OkCupid Data
• Bisexuality and Dating on OkCupid
• Promise and Perils of Hook-Up “Culture”
• MTV on Hook-Up Culture

The Sexual Body

The Female Body

• Orgasmic Birth and the Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm
• How Vulvas Vary
• Gender Differences in Body Regimens

Menstruation

• Weird Tampon Ad from Australia
• Kotex Sells Tampons by Making Fun of Selling Tampons
• Re-Framing Menstruation
• Race, Gender and Aggression in Ads for Menstrual Pains Meds

Presenting the Female Body as Unclean: Removing Body Hair

• Summer’s Eve’s “Hail to the V” Campaign
• Shave or Men Will Never Find It                            
• Mow the Lawn
• Civilize Your Bush
• Encouraging Hair Removal for Children?
• The Miss of Sisyphus
• PETA Attacks Pubic Hair
• Advertising Against Bush
• Anxiety about “Objectionable Hair” = Money in Someone’s Pocket
• Nair Hair Removal Products for Teens

Presenting the Female Body as Unclean: Douching

• Douching Your Way to the Top
• Vintage Zonite Douche Ads

Bodily Modification and Female Genital Cutting

• Spanish Ads Compare Women with Genital Cutting to Fuck Toys
• Female Circumcision Endorsed in a Vintage Playgirl
• When Vaginoplasty Meets Contemporary Television
• Pelvic Fitness Spa: More Things for Women to Worry About (NSFW)
• Vajazzling Revealed

Social Construction of the Male Body/Male Sexuality

• Social Construction of Sperm
• Medicalization of Impotence
• Conflating College Achievement with Sexual Prowess
• A Historical Look at the Popularity of Male Circumcision
• Fetishizing Black Men

Presenting the Penis as a Dangerous Weapon

• Safer Sex PSAs Conflate the Penis with a Firearm (NSFW)
• Safer Sex PSAs
• Presenting the Penis as a Dangerous Weapon (NSFW)

Representing Sex

Sexualization of Children’s Products

• Sexualized vs. Sexual: The Case of Thylane Blondeau
• Dora the Explorer’s Makeover
• Strawberry Shortcake: Extreme Makeover Edition
• Sexy Toy Makeovers: Lisa Frank, Trollz and Cabbage Patch Kids
• More Sexy Toy Makeovers: My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite and Candy Land

Sex in the Media

• Onslaught: Dove vs. Axe
• Non-Subtle Sex in Advertising
• “Subliminal” Sex in the Media

Ejaculation and Phallic Imagery

• Ejaculation Imagery
• Sexual Overtones in Cologne Ad
• Ejaculation Imagery in a Dutch Creamer Ad
• Phallic Imagery in a Skyy Vodka Ad
• Pornification of Advertising

Sex and Violence

• Violence Against Women on Prime-Time Up Since 2004
• Re-thinking the Famous Dolce and Gabbana Gang Rape Ad
• More Sexualized Violence in Fashion (NSFW)
• Calvin Klein Ad Implies Sexual Violence
• Even More Violence in Fashion Images

Objectification

• Objectification of Women: Everybody Wins!
• Gender, Sexualization and Rolling Stone
• Sexualized Images of Female Dominance

Infantilization of Women

• Vintage Infantilization

Forced/Coerced Sex

Sexual Script

• Sex and Dating as a Hunt
• Women are Wild Animals; Men are Hunters
• Men are Animals

Rape Culture

• Making Light of Rape in the Purdue University Newspaper
• Yale Frat Pledges Chant “No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal”
• Do Full-Body Scans or Pat Downs = Sexual Groping?
• Ad Aimed at Discouraging Teen Drinking Threatens Prison Rape, Homosexuality

Use of Alcohol as a Tool for Coercive Sex

• Alcohol as a Tool in the Dating Game
• Booze=Sex
• Beer, Sex, and “The Hunt”
• Drunk Women are Easy Targets

Sexual Assault Prevention Campaigns

• Framing Recovery from Child Sexual Abuse (Trigger Warning)
• Resistance, Language and the Toronto Slutwalk

Commercial Sex

Pornography

• Online Porn Subscription in Liberal vs. Conservative States
• Finally an Ad that Acknowledges What High-Speed Internet is For
• Are Kids Watching Internet Porn?
• Mainstreaming of Pornography
• Gail Dines on Pornography
• Cindy Gallop on How Porn is Shaping Our Sex Lives

Contemporary Views on Prostitution

• Sex Work in Las Vegas
• Humanizing Sex Workers?
• Facebook, Technology and Prostitution
• Disparate Trends in Permissiveness: Homosexuality and Prostitution
• What Does the Sex Industry Look Like?
• Disparate Trends in Permissiveness: Homosexuality and Prostitution

Historical Perspectives on Prostitution

• 1890s Guide to New York City Brothels
• Personifying Danger: Women as Vectors of STIs
• The Virgin-Whore Binary in WWII VD Propaganda
• STI Transmission: Wives, Whores and the Invisible Man
• Loose Women and the War Effort

Sex Trafficking

• Misleading Measurement of Anti-Trafficking Enforcement
• Thinking Critically about Sex Trafficking
• Disney Still Makes Light of Sex Slavery

Other Forms of Sex Work

• Phone Sex: Real and Imaginary (NSFW)
• “Work,” “Sex Work,” and Everything in Between

Social Control of Sex Work

• Halloween Hall of Shame: Fat Lap Dancer Costume
• Sex Work, Disrespect and Women’s Empowerment
• How Can You Tell If You’re a Prostitute?
• Questioning the Benefits of “Rescue” from Prostitution
• Posters Opposed to the Criminalization of Prostitution

Reproduction/Abortion

Reproduction

• To Whom Do Children “Just Happen”?
• Protecting Boys with Condoms for Kids
• Pre-Conception Care: Good for Babies, Bad for Women?
• The Pill and the Invention of the Monthly Cycle
• Visualizing the Fetus
• Thomas Beatie, the Pregnant Man, in the Public Sphere
• Threat of (Brown) Women’s Fertility

Abortion

• Why are Insured Women Paying for Abortions?
• Mis-Illustrating Abortion
• Framing the Abortion Debate
• Racializing the Abortion Debate
• Racialized Abortion Campaigns and Rethinking Choice
• More on the Racialization of the Abortion Debate
• Trends in the Rate of Abortion: New Data Shows a Plateau
• Measuring Abortion Beliefs
• Public Opinion on Abortions in Select Countries
• Public Opinion on Abortion by Party and Gender
• Abortion Laws Around the World
• Reproductive Politics, Race and Obama

Sterilization

• No Family for You: Examples of State Disruption
• Coercive Sterilization? Think of the Children!
• Breaking Down the Force/Choice Binary in the Sterilization of Women of Color

Contemporary GLBT Issues

Gay Rights Movement

• Images from the Early Gay Rights Movement
• Historic Photos of the Stonewall Riot and Its Aftermath
• Police Raids and the Stonewall Riots
• Increasing Cultural Acceptance of Gay and Lesbian Rights
• Should We Vote on People’s Rights?
• Opinions of Gay Rights Issues by State
• Attitudes Toward Gays and Lesbians

GLBT Parenting

• Portraying Lesbian Parents

Same-Sex Marriage

• Anti-Gay Marriage Ads
• Global Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages
• The Tipping Point for Support of Same Sex Marriage?
• Acceleration for Support of Same-Sex Marriage
• Who is Driving Increasing Acceptance of Gays and Lesbians?
• Turbo Tax Wants to Know if You are Gay Married
• Support for Same-Sex Marriage by Age and State
• On Gay Marriage and the Contact Hypothesis
• Gay Marriage and the Social Construction of Social “Problems”
• Views about Same Sex Marriage by Generation
• Rhetorical Strategy in the Gay Marriage Debate

GLBT-Related Legislation

• Southern Poverty Law Center Map of Hate Groups
• Sodomy Laws
• Increasing U.S. Public Support for Gays in the Military
• Educating Soldiers about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
• “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is Done