New study: TV increased U.S. support for same-sex “marriage”

by Kirsten Andersen

LOS ANGELES, April 18, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When Vice President Joe Biden announced his support for same-sex “marriage” in 2012, he credited "Will and Grace," a 1990s sitcom about a gay man and his female roommate, with making homosexuality – and gay “marriage” – palatable to the average American.

Commentators mocked the vice president at the time, but researchers with Ipsos MediaCT, a global market research company, have just released a study that may prove him right.

According to the report, 18 percent of Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 said that television has directly contributed to their increasing support for same-sex “marriage.”

That’s nearly double the number (10 percent) who reported television had increased their opposition to marriage redefinition.

“Based on this data, I think we can conclude that TV has, at least in part, moved the needle of public opinion to see same-sex marriage in a positive way,” Ben Spergel, Senior Vice President and Head of TV Insights at Ipsos MediaCT said in a statement.

“With everything from higher profile portrayals of gay characters, to celebrity support of gay marriage, to last year’s groundbreaking endorsement by President Obama, we are seeing a shift in our culture that is being influenced by popular culture,” he said.

Last month, liberal writer Andrew O’Hehir wrote an article for Salon crediting the American movement toward homosexual acceptance to television shows like "Will and Grace,""Roseanne," "The Real World," "Ellen DeGeneres," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Modern Family," and "Glee.”

“From 'Soap' to Ellen DeGeneres to Richard Hatch on 'Survivor' to the macho male couple who won season 4 of 'The Amazing Race,’” O’Hehir wrote, “televisual images of sexual diversity have gradually moved away from victimology and 'gay best friend' stereotypes toward a 'normalizing vision'of LGBT culture.”

“While the startling public shift on gay marriage – something few people of my generation, straight or gay, thought they’d ever see — is not solely the product of TV, it represents the ultimate fulfillment of TV’s vision of sexual equality,” O’Hehir added.

Support for same-sex “marriage” is on the rise in the United States. Recent polls show more than half of Americans support redefining marriage to include homosexual couples, and several states now allow gay nuptials in defiance of federal law.

Last year saw a sea change in attitudes toward homosexual “marriage” after President Obama came out in favor of such unions.

President Obama said Jesus, the Golden Rule and discussions with his teenage daughters shifted his views on the issue.