Support for Marriage Equality Increases in NY

April 6, 2005

NEW YORK — Support in the state of New York for marriage for same-sex couples increased over the past year according to a new poll.

The Global Strategy Group survey found that 51% of New Yorkers support marriage for same-sex couples while 42% do not. A similar Global Strategy Group poll conducted for the Pride Agenda last year in March 2004 found 47% in support of marriage and 46% opposed. Both surveys were taken by Global for Empire State Pride Agenda, the state's LGBT civil rights organization.

The new poll also showed that New Yorkers overwhelmingly believe that same-sex couples should have the same rights and protections government currently grants opposite-sex couples through marriage.

Favorable response rates on questions about specific rights ranged from 72% in support of providing child custody rights to 83% in favor of providing legal authority to make decisions about a deceased partner's burial. Seventy-two percent (72%) of New Yorkers also favored civil unions and domestic partner arrangements as avenues to provide legal rights to same-sex couples.

These findings confirm that New Yorkers are fair people who understand that equality applies to everyone. This is good news for same-sex couples and their families, said Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle.

The other good news in this year's poll numbers is that the national attack campaign being conducted against our families by the conservative and religious right does not appear to be fooling anyone here in New York. Despite a year of persistent nation-wide attack, New Yorkers are not retreating from their support for our families.

Van Capelle attributed much of the growing to support to a growing visibility of same-sex couples. New Yorkers have traveled to Massachusetts to marry and hundreds more to Canada.

New Yorkers are seeing firsthand that life does not change when same-sex couples are allowed to marry, Van Capelle said.

The only lives that are changed are those of same-sex couples who got married and now have more of the rights and protections they need to take care of their families. The doomsday scenarios about same-sex marriage being spun by the conservative and religious right are simply not true and New Yorkers are not falling for them.

On poll questions about various rights and protections that government gives to those who marry and whether same-sex couples should have access to them, Van Capelle said, The poll clearly shows there is overwhelming support for our families having access to these rights and protections. When 72% to 83% of New Yorkers give a resounding 'Yes' to our families having child custody rights, medical decision-making authority, burial authority, health, pension and inheritance rights, there is no longer anything left to debate in New York. Family equality is a non-partisan issue and it is time for elected officials in Albany to hear what their constituents are saying and take action so that our families can have the same rights and protections others have.

On the overarching question of marriage for same-sex couples, Van Capelle said, New York continues to move in the right direction on marriage. The increase in support this year over last year for the right of same-sex couples to marry tells us that New Yorkers are listening and thinking about this issue and are recognizing more and more that access to marriage is about equality and protections for real families.