THE DEMOCRATIC DERANGEMENT CONTINUED

Majority Against Blessing Gay Unions: 60% in Poll Oppose Episcopal Decision (Richard Morin and Alan Cooperman, August 14, 2003, Washington Post)

A strong majority of the public disapproves of the Episcopal Church's decision to recognize the blessing of same-sex unions, and a larger share of churchgoing Americans would object if their own faith adopted a similar practice, according to a new Washington Post Poll.

So broad and deep is this opposition that nearly half of all Americans who regularly attend worship services say they would leave their current church if their minister blessed gay couples -- even if their denomination officially approved those ceremonies, the survey found.

As courts, companies and congregations across the nation consider what standing to give gay couples, the poll demonstrates strong public disapproval of any religious sanctioning of same-sex relationships. It underscores the sharp distinction most Americans make between relationships blessed by the church and those recognized by the law.

"Americans are saying, 'We're willing to move pretty far on this issue, we're much more tolerant than we used to be, but don't mix it up with religion and God,' " said Boston College political scientist Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. [...]

The poll also found, however, that public acceptance of same-sex civil unions is falling. Fewer than four in 10 -- 37 percent -- of all Americans say they would support a law allowing gay men and lesbians to form civil unions that would provide some of the rights and legal protections of marriage.

That is a precipitous, 12-point drop in support found in a Gallup Organization survey that posed the question in identical terms in May, before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas law against sodomy and Justice Antonin Scalia argued in his dissent that the court was on a slippery slope toward legalizing gay marriage.

There seems no reason that a simple contractual relationship shouldn't be available to gay couples, one whose provisions are enforcable under the law but that's essentially private, rather than sanctioned by the Church or the State. If Democrats really are determined to push this issue, as their presidential candidates seem willing to do, it may suffice to move the Catholic Rust Belt into the Red State column. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 14, 2003 10:11 AM