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Poll gauges attitudes on homosexuality Thursday, Nov 3, 2005 By Aaron Sadler Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A majority of Arkansans oppose legal recognition of homosexual couples and even more believe homosexual relationships are always wrong, the 2005 Arkansas Poll revealed. The poll conducted by political scientists at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville found 54 percent of respondents believe gay couples should not be allowed to legally marry or form civil unions. Sixty-five percent think sexual relations between people of the same sex is wrong, according to the poll released today. Poll Director Janine Parry said surveying Arkansans' thoughts on homosexuality stemmed from last year's overwhelming voter approval of a constitutional amendment to define marriage legally as being between one man and one woman. In the random telephone survey of 766 Arkansas residents, only 15 percent said gay couples should be allowed to marry. Twenty-two percent said gays should be permitted to form civil unions or domestic partnerships. The survey's margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Arkansas was one of 11 states that in November 2004 adopted constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. Parry, a UA professor, said questions about legal rights of homosexuals is "just a hot policy topic right now among policymakers and academics." Three bills filed during the 2005 General Assembly were addressed by the poll, including whether sexual orientation should be protected under the state civil rights act. Sixty percent of respondents opposed a law prohibiting employers from discriminating based on sexual orientation, with 31 percent in favor. Another bill that died in a Senate committee would have forced school textbooks to include the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. When posed a question regarding that issue, 70 percent were in favor of requiring that definition and 23 percent opposed. Rep. Roy Ragland, R-Marshall, sponsored the bill. He said the poll proves the bill had popular support. "I felt like that was the feeling of the people of the state of Arkansas when I introduced that legislation," he said. "If we're going to have an amendment to the constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman, I don't think we'd want to teach out of a textbook contrary to that." Another bill to prohibit gays and lesbians as foster parents was unsuccessful. And according to the poll, 66 percent of respondents are in favor of a law allowing a lesbian or gay man to adopt a child. About a quarter of respondents would be against such law, and percentages did not change when considering evangelical Christians and weekly churchgoers. Rita Sklar, executive director of the Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the responses on the adoption issue were the best news to come from the annual survey. "Sixty-eight percent of Arkansans find homosexual activity morally wrong, yet they obviously see that gay men and lesbians are just people and can be entrusted with the most important job on earth: to be a parent," Sklar said. Attitudes about homosexuals softened, according to the poll, depending on whether respondents said they knew someone who was homosexual. Just more than half of respondents said they know a gay or lesbian. Sklar said she "can hardly imagine" 55 percent of Arkansans being able to say they knew a homosexual two decades ago. In her opinion, the results show people may be more inclined toward supporting more gay rights if more homosexuals identified themselves as such. "I think it's important gays and lesbians come out," she said. "It's valuable when they do." Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they thought gay rights leaders are trying to push too fast for more civil rights. Forty-five percent said their religious beliefs had the most influence on their current attitudes toward homosexuals. |
