Brian Brown has dismissed a Washington
Post-ABC News poll that shows majority support for gay marriage.
The president of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), the nation's most vociferous
opponent of gay marriage, said the poll doesn't count.
The survey released Friday found 53
percent of Americans believe gay and lesbian couples should be
allowed to marry, while 42 percent remain opposed. That is a 17
point increase in support over the last five years.
“This is very consistent with a lot
of other polling data we've seen and the general momentum we've seen
over the past year and a half,” Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom
to Marry, told the Post.
Brown and his supporters criticized the
poll's wording, which asked respondents: “Do you think it should be
legal or illegal for gay and lesbian couples to get married?”
Brown said respondents could become tangled in the word “illegal,”
which he said might suggest incarceration for violators.
“The only poll that counts is a free
and fair vote on the part of the people,” he said. “We've seen
these biased polls time and time again – right before votes in
which same-sex marriage is rejected. It's absurd. The people of this
country have not changed their opinion about marriage.”
The Post-ABC News polls have
used the same language since 2003.
The poll also found nearly equal
support for gay marriage between men, who previously were less
supportive, and women.