With Fight Over DOMA Looming, A Majority Of Americans Now Support Gay Marriage

By Yashwanth Manjunath

According to a new Washington Post/ABC poll, a majority of Americans now support gay marriage. Five years ago only 36 percent of Americans supported gay marriage; now 53 percent say gay marriage should be legal. This is the first time that a Post-ABC poll has shown a majority on this issue.

Of course, opponents of marriage equality have been quick to discredit the validity of the poll. According to Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage:

The only poll that counts is a free and fair vote on the part of the people. We’ve seen these biased polls time and time again — right before votes in which same-sex marriage is rejected. It’s absurd. The people of this country have not changed their opinion about marriage.

Won’t it be nice when the idea of banning gay marriage winds up in the garbage can of history, just like bans on interracial marriage? I wonder what people like Brian Brown will say then?

Gay marriage has become an issue of particular importance with Democrats currently pushing to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In a rich twist of irony, John Boehner recently said:

It is regrettable that the Obama administration has opened this divisive issue at a time when Americans want their leaders to focus on jobs and the challenges facing our economy.

Republicans criticizing Democrats for using gay marriage as a “divisive issue” is an embarrassing level of hypocrisy. Does Boehner not remember the 2004 and 2006 elections? And to criticize the Obama administration for not focusing on jobs and the economy? Thus far, the main priorities of the new Republican House majority have been repealing health care reform, eliminating abortion rights, and wait for it… defunding NPR.

Meanwhile, we are still waiting on the Republicans to propose their first real jobs bill. But I suppose when your have a spray tan that disguises your face from turning red, it’s much easier to make shamelessly hypocritical statements.

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