Ohio, now with less hating gay people

Let me begin by saying, this is why I don’t travel. I shouldn’t be allowed to go further from my front door than what I can drive within eight hours. I was back in the DC area Sunday night/Monday morning, but opted to stay in bed all day Monday. Paid Sick Leave, bitches.

According to the Columbus Dispatch’s Tom Dodge, Ohioan’s views on gay marriage have changed. This poll is particularly interesting as the US Supreme Court hears Prop 8. I guess it was a good thing Ohio passed restrictive anti-gay laws back when I was in undergrad in 2004. Dodged a bullet there.

We passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and women, which passed with 62% of the vote. Now, however, 54% back a new amendment to repeal the 2004 ban, which “allow[s] two consenting adults to marry, regardless of their gender.”

The argument is that the electorate in Ohio has changed; shifting to reflect more young people who are cool with gay marriage. Naturally, there are still people in Ohio worrying about how gay marriage will destroy their faith (these people are probably in the closet and think once gay marriage is legal they will be compelled to marry people of the same gender). The article interviewed a woman working on behalf of gay marriage and a religious zealot, who it was hard to even pretend to take seriously, after all her argument was based in what the Bible says is ok and not ok. Personally, I like my blended fabric, but I am after all a heathen.

Three-fourths of Ohioans under 35 years-old are in favor of gay marriage. The poll was conducted by cellphones and land lines by Saperstein Associates of 1,003 adults who were randomly selected from March 5 to 10 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The results were weighted to reflect the population, and the response rate was about 28%, which is a shitty response rate, but expected given it was a phone poll. The poll was financed by The Dispatch. They support the American Association for Public Opinion Research’s transparency initiative.