Iowa: 64 percent proud or don't care about gay marriage
Sat. March 8, 2014 8:45 AM by Carlos Santoscoy
Des Moines, IA -
A new poll conducted last month found that 64 percent of Iowans either are proud or don't care about gay marriage.
According to The Des Moines Register Iowa Poll of 703 adults, 36 percent of Iowans don't care about the issue, while 28 percent say they are proud that Iowa allows gay couples to marry. Thirty-four percent said that they were disappointed.
"Personally, it don't affect me," Ray Simmons, 28, told the paper. "It's up to them what they want to do."
Iowa will celebrate five years of marriage equality next month. In 2009, Iowa became the third state behind Massachusetts and Connecticut to legalize such unions after the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state's law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.
"That people say it does not matter is a sense of resignation or acceptance," said Jeff Stein, an Iowa political analyst. "It's a battle that they just don't feel they can win, so they don't want to fight. They've accepted the situation and moved on to fight other battles."
Donna Red Wing, executive director of LGBT rights group One Iowa, agreed, saying that indifference signals that "it's the norm."
"The fact that more people are either proud or just don't see it as an issue, that says we're winning in a big way," she said.
According to The Des Moines Register Iowa Poll of 703 adults, 36 percent of Iowans don't care about the issue, while 28 percent say they are proud that Iowa allows gay couples to marry. Thirty-four percent said that they were disappointed.
"Personally, it don't affect me," Ray Simmons, 28, told the paper. "It's up to them what they want to do."
Iowa will celebrate five years of marriage equality next month. In 2009, Iowa became the third state behind Massachusetts and Connecticut to legalize such unions after the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state's law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.
"That people say it does not matter is a sense of resignation or acceptance," said Jeff Stein, an Iowa political analyst. "It's a battle that they just don't feel they can win, so they don't want to fight. They've accepted the situation and moved on to fight other battles."
Donna Red Wing, executive director of LGBT rights group One Iowa, agreed, saying that indifference signals that "it's the norm."
"The fact that more people are either proud or just don't see it as an issue, that says we're winning in a big way," she said.
Article provided in partnership with On Top Magazine