ref74_gaymarriage_ap980.jpg
Nine states - New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Washington - and the District of Columbia now allow same-sex couples to wed. (AP Photo)

Gay marriage reaches a 'turning point,' what next?

BY Brandi Kruse  on November 13, 2012 @ 7:41 am (Updated: 8:57 am - 11/13/12 )

On election night, as gay marriage supporters gathered at the Westin in downtown Seattle to await news of a victory, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire took the stage.

Fighting to hold back tears, she called marriage equality the "defining civil rights issue" of a generation.

Just moments before she spoke, voters in Maine and Maryland passed ballot measures legalizing same-sex unions. A constitutional ban on the ballot in Minnesota had failed.

Days later, as ballots continued to be counted, Washington state's Referendum 74 would pass, making voters here among the first in the country to give gay and lesbian couples the right to wed.

"I think it is hard to say 'Why does culture switch in the period of a couple years?' said Jennifer Self, director of the Q Center at the University of Washington. "One day 50 percent of the people are saying 'No, no, no,' and then you go over that edge..."

She believes support for gay marriage has reached a critical turning point.

"I really think that there has been, over the last 20 years, a shift in people's understandings of gay and lesbian people," Self said. "And, honestly, there's been a whole lot of money poured into this campaign, at the national level and at local levels."

Supporters of gay marriage raised roughly $13.6 million for the R-74 campaign, compared to the $2.7 million brought in by their opponents, Preserve Marriage Washington.

"If you have enough money to put into a campaign you can sway public opinion and actually shift culture," Self said. "It's a combination of very successful campaigns, that needed to happen or these wouldn't have passed, along with decades of cultural shifting."

Joseph Backholm, who chaired the campaign against R-74, said the outcome would have been different had the financial numbers been different. He rejects the idea that there has been a cultural shift in how Americans view same-sex marriage.

"We were outspent by $10 million in a really blue state and it was a really close election," he said. "For my four children, I am specifically necessary in their lives and their mother, who is my wife, is specifically necessary in their lives. That was true 1,000 years ago, it is true today and it will be true 1,000 years from now."

Nine states - New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Washington - and the District of Columbia now allow same-sex couples to wed.

Self predicts many more will follow as a result of this year's election, and it won't be long, she argues, until the federal government's Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, will fall.

Brandi Kruse, KIRO Radio Reporter
Brandi Kruse is a reporter for KIRO Radio who is as spontaneous and adventurous in her free time as she is on the job. Brandi arrived at KIRO Radio in March 2011 and has already collected three regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her reporting.
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Comments (68)


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  • spoon&fork wrote...
    Why oh, why
    November 13, 2012 12:03 pm
    does almost every article regarding gay marriage have to post a picture of two people of the same sex kissing??? It's disgusting! If you want to do that in your bedroom, by all means, go ahead. Feel free not to publicize it. Geez...
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  • ronzilla wrote...
    For every marriage of ATTRACTIVE lesbians:
    November 13, 2012 12:36 pm
    I will volunteer to witness the consummation on the Honeymoon night. To MAKE CERTAIN that the marriage is legal, of course:)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @Ronzilla
    November 13, 2012 1:55 pm
    Maybe take it one step further and have hot lesbian marriages be consumated through an agreement with a new cable network which chronicles the first six months of their marital bliss, like "The Truman Show". Being as "consumating" statistically dries up in six months with a lesbian couple, new faces rotating in could keep the ratings perpetually high. The government getting into the business may be able parlay the ad and pay-per-view revenues into tax cuts for all of us.
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  • ronzilla wrote...
    I have NEVER watched reality television, Cigarillo. Not ONE SINGLE episode. No Survivor. No American Idol. NONE.
    November 13, 2012 3:43 pm
    But I WOULD tune into YOUR reality show. I'll bet the marital-aid commercials between segments would be just as titillating as the show itself!
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  • otherpointofview wrote...
    why no gay men kissing?
    November 13, 2012 12:51 pm
    why does mynw only put up pictures of gay women kissing but not gay men??? that's because homosexuality is still not fully accepted by the general public/society. most people still find gay men kissing disturbing, gross, uncomfortable (whatever you wanna call it) but view lesbians as being "curious"... we live in one F'd up world
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  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @OtherPointOfView
    November 13, 2012 1:46 pm
    Female sexuality in the western world is regarded as sensual and beautiful. Male sexuality is a threat, or annoyance at best. One could hardly deem the world "F'd up" when the repulsion is so overwhelmingly universal. And didn't you see Adam Lambert macking on that dude on the left?
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  • maplefish wrote...
    Forced Tolerance
    November 13, 2012 5:19 pm
    = Intolerance! Even with gay people making out...LOL!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Denco25 wrote...
    Sad Day
    November 13, 2012 3:04 pm
    It may be the "law", but it doesn't mean I can be forced to accept it -- and I won't accept it. Seattle and King county have lost my business. We have come up from Puyallup to see the 5th Avenue, Pacific Northwest Baleet, etc., but will be keeping our money and sales tax dollars down here. Seattle and King county do not reflect the values of myself or of my family.
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  • maplefish wrote...
    Yep
    November 13, 2012 5:28 pm
    That's why I live half the year in Sun Valley, ID. I have one kid left at the UW and when he's done. My house is for up sale and I will be a full time resident of that beautiful, peaceful, TOLERANT City and State. No traffic. No stupidity in Politics, no wasted and unaccounted $Billions of tax dollars. Great people. Beautiful scenery and Nature. Yep. A lot like Seattle WAS when my Great Grandpa came here. Now, it a eF'd up Liberal Mess with incompetent leaders. Good luck, Morons!
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  • Concerned US Citizen wrote...
    Dragged in t the Bedroom?
    November 13, 2012 6:39 pm
    You conservatives and liberals are both wrong about the government getting dragged into the bedroom. This only drags the LAWYERS into the bedroom. Try and move out now when you want to end a relationship. It will cost you a retainer minimun $2,500 and trips to court to disolve your relationship. Oh you may have to pay for your partners healthcare, lose half your savings, sell the house and share your pension. Welcome to the real world of marriage!!! LOL
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  • Pebohead wrote...
    I support the biblical definition of marriage!
    November 13, 2012 7:57 pm
    I should be able to have as many wives as I want and they can be any age and I should have the right to sell my children into slavery because the bible tells me I can! Support the biblical definition of marriage!
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  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @Pebohead
    November 13, 2012 8:21 pm
    Having as many wives as you want is just plain nuts. Anyone who's been married can fill you in on the logistical nightmare of such folly. But selling your kids into slavery....you may be on to something here.....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    I voted to approve R-74
    November 13, 2012 11:27 pm
    Now I want to know when can we vote to approve 1st-cousin marriage and mother-son/mother-daughter/father-daughter/father-son/brother-brother/brother-sister/sister-sister marriage? Because, using the exact same logic as R-74, who are we to get in the way of love? And as long as the couples are adopting babies (in the case of heterosexual-inter-family unions) then there really is no reason at all to block these people from happiness.
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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Forcing acceptance of Homosexuality.
    November 14, 2012 6:08 am
    We Americans have the right to choose. If we choose NOT to have the Militant politically motivated Homosexual agenda that was, and still is, in place for the Dear Leaders re immaculation we won't! If someone is not acceptance of the Homosexual act and so called "Gay Marriage", you Parrots need to understand that is our right. Rather you narrow minded myopic types cannot or refuse to accept this as reality is your own issues. Some could be about hate but most of it is the fact that it is immoral and goes against the will of God.

    Before all you anti-religion types go off, you will have to learn to accept another s point of view. Just like how you harp about we Americans having to accept your points of view as acceptable you will have to accept or learn to live with people who do not agree with your beliefs.

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