Presenter : Daniel Schwartz
Mentor : Patricia Gwartney
Major : Sociology
Poster 41
A majority of Americans have been opposed to same-sex marriage since public opinion polls first began asking about it in 1988. However, beginning in 2010, attitudes in support of same-sex marriage began to outweigh opposition. This senior honors thesis helps explain why and how Americans’ attitudes have shifted toward greater support for same-sex marriage. I also thoroughly examine the homophile movement, and propose that without it being so robust, Americans’ attitudes would remain largely opposed today. I relied on existing data from the General Social Survey. My hypothesis was that age cohort would be the strongest determinant of one’s attitude toward same-sex marriage, and my findings supported my hypothesis. While previous literature has examined the strong impacts the homophile movement has had on the public, it has not empirically examined the correlates of the shift in attitudes. Additionally, my research contributes to the dialogue on same-sex marriage as a currently contentious civil rights issue. Homosexuals are the only minority groups that do not enjoy the same marital rights as non-homosexual minority groups. But considering the recent legislative attention same-sex marriage has received, it is likely that homosexuals will soon be granted the right to wed.