Poll: 73 percent back marriage ban

domewatcher, please explain how the inability of same-sex couples to procreate validates the idea of my marriage being threatened by two men or two women marrying.

Furthermore, since my husband and I are unable to conceive, does that mean that you feel our marriage is somehow invalid?

Put your answer right here:__________________________________

Nothing is beyond a redneck or, this good ol' boy.

May you Git-R-Done in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer.

And may the spirit of Tammy Wynette bless your wife.

I think we are finding some common ground. I agree with you and mother nature that "post menopausal" women should think twice about having children. I read somewhere that a 62 year old woman delivered a baby? That seems mighty old to me to be raising children. I can truthfully say that since my wife went through menopause that she does not need to be thinking of children again! She seems to be ill all the time and she has these hot flashes which makes our air conditioning system run all the time! A baby would freeze to death around her.

So let's agree that post menopausal women need to listen to mother nature and think long and hard about children.

I don't know much about "voiding" marriages. I know about divorce and death but the "voiding" of marriages is beyond a dumb redneck. (I personally am against divorce as I married an incredibly rich woman. I could see divorcing a poor woman but not a rich one. I think mother nature would agree.)

Dumb domewatcher:

Mother Nature says post menopausal women can no longer procreate.

Shall we void marriages of such women?

I will admit it was a long time ago when I took freshman biology. Explain to me how 2 men or 2 women can produce an offspring? It just seems to me that the different parts don't match up with what was explained to me to be the "natural function of nature and the natural order of things."

Maybe something has changed and the "natural process" has evolved and put "mother nature" out of vogue. I keep reading that God is dead. Did "mother nature" die too? Or have we become so smart that we now control nature?

Help a dumb redneck out.

I hope we can have a ban on marriage involving repugnant-CANTs, whose deviant selfish greed-based life style has lead to the collapse of the global economy and to sending the U.S.A. down the drain. I wonder how many North Carolinians would oppose marriage for Hispanics, blacks, or any other minority group. It is sad and pathetic that there is so much bigotry and that the bigots have the temerity to hide behind their Bibles. Then again, this was true also during slavery. And many Christians looked the other way during the Holocaust (in which many gays were killed, as well as Jews). Morality and religion are definitely not the same thing. when they came for others, you were silent. when they come for you, who will speak for you?

When the "marriage defenders" can explain to me in a cogent manner (and without resorting to the Great Book of Cosmic ContradictionsBible) how my marriage is threatened by two men or two women getting married, then I will consider supporting their cause.

Until then, they need to pay attention to their own personal lives rather than focusing on intruding into the lives (and depriving the civil rights) of others.

"The live survey of 5,009 registered voters was conducted on Feb. 26, 2009, by Advantage Inc. of Arlington, Va. The margin of error was not released."

To comport with the requirements of the National Council on Public Polls, any research firm releasing their results should issue a statement identifying the margin of error and confidence level, any sample quotas used, how their list was generated (random digit dial or from voter records), etc. They can also optionally include data about response rate, call back attempts, etc.

If they surveyed 5,009 individuals, then the margin of error at 95% confidence level would be +/- 1.38%.

I'm surprised some of you are married on this blog, being the whole sanctity of marriage and all.

Who cares, one is accepted by society and one is not. Why does getting married officially make you gay and recognized? I would think this happens before you walk down the aisle, and you're already noticeably different and still recognized without having to have the piece of paper acknowledging this. Seems pretty pointless.

Why not just vote for the real deal??I am hetero but see no reason why gays cannot join me in marriage and assume my side would lose but stop these polls and do the real deal .I am puzzled by those who oppose this but also I have no intention of listening to any Biblical explanations of their decision making process.

Mr. Beckwith,

Check out the dueling facebook groups in opposition and in support to NC Sen Forrester's defense of marriage bill (NC Senate Bill 272). The back and forth discussions of the 18-40 age group seem pretty heated and fairly newsworthy:

Facebook Group: I Oppose NC Senate Bill 272 - Defense of Marriage

Facebook Group: I support NC Senate Bill 272

Mr. Crosby says:

"Those numbers were funny until you saw that Elon College did the poll wich was skewed because Elon has a huge gay population. "

I know enough about polling to know that the Elon poll is a poll done BY Elon College students under the direction of their Political Science Department. It is not a poll OF Elon College students.

"The bill (H361):
SECTION 1. Article 14 of the North Carolina Constitution is amended by adding
10 the following new section:
11 "Sec. 6. Marriage.
12 Marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid
13 or recognized in this state."

Isn't the State Employees Association of North Carolina a domestic legal union?

RTB - Thanks for changing the headline - I remember the Elon poll but may have missed if there were others - looks like the front page of the web site still has the original headline.

If we change the constitution then we need to ban religious people from asserting their beliefs on others. I only wish hell really existed so you could burn there for causing such grief and hatred towards others. Shame on you!

at least these numbers are believable unlike the ones that said 50% of people favored gay marrage. Those numbers were funny until you saw that Elon College did the poll wich was skewed because Elon has a huge gay population. I find the whole thing hilarious. To think gays want to get married. marriage is between a MAN and WOMAN nothing else is aceptable

Let me quibble back that it's not correct that the poll found over 70% of people would vote for a ban on gay marraige -- they were not given the actual language/meaning of the proposed ban. I don't think this is a small point -- there's a reason it's getting polled that way by the groups on the right. It's hard not to get the feeling that this poll is in response to the Elon poll.

That's a fair complaint. I was coming at it from the angle of having written a half-dozen posts last week about these polls.

Changing the headline now.

— RTB 

Here we go again. Civitas and the Family Policy people poll a "definition." They have done a good job of spinning this, but the fact is that this conversation is about limiting rights for certain individuals. The actual bill (copied below) is very clear that marriage, civil unions, and any other legal status that might be available to same-sex couples, would be constitutionally banned/prevented. This reality is not reflected in this new poll. Civitas claims to have tracked the bill's language, but conveniently left out the part that most people would not agree with -- the banning of any and all rights for same-sex couples.

The Elon poll got at a much more specific response from people when the actual intent and consequences of the proposed amendment were spelled out -- including a sizable chunk who were amenable to civil unions, etc.

I suppose we could go out this afternoon and poll people about whether they would vote for a definition of the color of the sky as "blue." I think we could get well over 70% on that, since most people think of the sky as blue and the question seems harmless enough. Perhaps there would be a different result if we polled at night -- when the sky is not blue. The best analogy to the marriage bill, though, would be a poll asking whether blue is the only color of sky that shall be valid or recognized in this state.

This latest poll is more advocacy, not opinion-gathering.

The bill (H361):

SECTION 1. Article 14 of the North Carolina Constitution is amended by adding
10 the following new section:
11 "Sec. 6. Marriage.
12 Marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid
13 or recognized in this state."

Now it is just "Yet another gay marriage poll" when a conversative group does the polling. But when you look at the headlines on 3/23 from the poll done by Elon University it was "Half of NC adults oppose marriage amendment". Shows which side N&O is on with this issue...