Majority of Kentuckians remain opposed to gay marriage
Sat. March 14, 2015 7:43 AM by Carlos Santoscoy
Lexington, KY -
A majority of Kentuckians remain opposed to allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.
According to a Bluegrass Poll of 1,917 registered voters conducted March 3 through 8 and released Thursday, 33 percent of respondents support marriage equality, while 57 percent remain opposed.
Fifty percent of Kentucky voters under the age of 34 favor equal marriage rights.
Opposition has increased in the state since a poll conducted in July found opposition at 50 percent and support at 37 percent.
The results buck the national trend.
A CNN/ORC poll released in February showed 63 percent of Americans support gay couples' constitutional right to marry.
Dayton Heffelfinger, 63, participated in the poll, saying he supports marriage equality. In an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader, he explained that "folks are entitled to be with the people they love."
"The people who oppose [marriage equality] sort of brought all of this on themselves when they tried to keep same-sex partners out of each other's intensive care units at the hospital and that sort of family situation," he said. "We probably could have settled this somewhere in the middle with something like civil unions that provide the same legal rights. But the opponents didn't want to be reasonable and give any ground, so here we are."
A federal appeals court last year overturned a lower court's ruling striking down Kentucky's restrictive marriage ban. Plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, which will hear the case on April 28.
According to a Bluegrass Poll of 1,917 registered voters conducted March 3 through 8 and released Thursday, 33 percent of respondents support marriage equality, while 57 percent remain opposed.
Fifty percent of Kentucky voters under the age of 34 favor equal marriage rights.
Opposition has increased in the state since a poll conducted in July found opposition at 50 percent and support at 37 percent.
The results buck the national trend.
A CNN/ORC poll released in February showed 63 percent of Americans support gay couples' constitutional right to marry.
Dayton Heffelfinger, 63, participated in the poll, saying he supports marriage equality. In an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader, he explained that "folks are entitled to be with the people they love."
"The people who oppose [marriage equality] sort of brought all of this on themselves when they tried to keep same-sex partners out of each other's intensive care units at the hospital and that sort of family situation," he said. "We probably could have settled this somewhere in the middle with something like civil unions that provide the same legal rights. But the opponents didn't want to be reasonable and give any ground, so here we are."
A federal appeals court last year overturned a lower court's ruling striking down Kentucky's restrictive marriage ban. Plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, which will hear the case on April 28.
Article provided in partnership with On Top Magazine