Seven in ten young adults, those born
after 1980, support gay marriage.
According to a Pew
Research survey conducted in March and released on Monday,
Millennial support for gay nuptials is 21 percent higher than the
national average and far higher than in any other generation.
The poll found 49 percent support among
Gen X-ers (those born between 1965 and 1980), 38 percent among Baby
Boomers (1946-1964) and 31 percent among those in the Silent
Generation (1928-1945). Overall, 49 percent of Americans favor
marriage equality, while 44 remain opposed, according to the survey.
Ten states currently allow gay and
lesbian couples to marry, the latest being Rhode Island, where a
marriage bill signed into law Thursday takes effect August 1.
(Related: Gay
groups cheer Rhode Island gay marriage; And a video, too.)
Opponents have previously dismissed the
notion that overwhelming support from Millennials makes the expansion
of marriage equality inevitable over time.
As recently as last week, Brian Brown,
president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), suggested
that young people would grow out of their support.
“But this idea that somehow young
people's ideas are fixed and as they grow older they won't change
their ideas is not true,” Brown told USA
Today. “We believe all sorts of things when we were
younger that we no longer believe.”