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.