ESL 5301 – 001 Gay Marriage
Data Commentary I
1. Views on Selected Gay and Lesbian Issues by Age
The graph shows the results of a survey about differences in acceptance rates to gay and lesbian issues between different age groups. The survey was run in July, 2011 by Public Religion Research Institute, and the sample size was 3000 subjects.
The results of the survey clearly show a generation gap when it comes to acceptance rates to gay and lesbian issues.
It is obvious that the older generation (age 65+) has lower acceptance rates compared to the other two age groups included in the survey. The gap reaches 33% when it comes to allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children.
Acceptance rates go higher and the generation gap gets smaller with issues away from marriage and adoption, like permission to form civil unions, or supporting laws that would protect against job discrimination.
One possible reason for the higher gap and relatively low acceptance rate to issues related to marriage and adoption is it could be based on religious references.
Another possible explanation for the fact that acceptance rates among millennials are generally higher than among the two older age groups is the influence from the media, which have contributed to making gay and lesbian issues more acceptable in the society. (Muhammad)
Survey | Generations at Odds: The Millennial Generation and the Future of Gay and Lesbian Rights (Public Religion Research Institute)
http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/08/generations-at-odds/#.VfkWhBFVhBc
2. Data Commentary
Public Religion Research Institute in July 2011 conducted a survey among three thousand people in different age groups (general public, millennials (18-29) and seniors (65+)) regarding their views on various gay and lesbian related issues such as rights of same-sex couples to marry legally, rights of homosexuals to adopt children, same-sex couple privileges to form civil unions and prevention of job discrimination against homosexuals. Interestingly, it can be clearly seen from the outcome that for any of the above mentioned issues, the highest and lowest supports were from millennials and seniors respectively, with the general public falling in between them. Also, among the various issues, laws for preventing job discrimination garnered strong support among people in each age group compared to the other issues, though the exact quantitative numbers are unimportant for the current discussion. Finally, based on the above brief summary it can be concluded that younger generations are more open towards gay and lesbian related issues compared to the older people. (Sriramvignesh)
Reference
Survey - Generations at Odds: The Millennial Generation and the Future of Gay and Lesbian Rights. (2011, August 29th). Public Religion Research Institute. Retrieved on September 16, 2015 from http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/08/generations-at-odds/#.VfkCwRFVhBd
3. Graph Description 01
According to Pew Research Center, during the period 2003-2013, American adults of various generations have increasingly been in favor of same-sex marriage. Annual surveys conducted in the past decade found that a considerable number of Americans shifted their viewpoint from opposing to supporting gay marriage. Consequently, the percentage of opponents dropped from 58% (2003) to 44% (2013) while the supporters at the same time kept their proportion, which increased constantly from 33% to 49%. The surveys also showed that overall, same-sex marriage has gained more support from all generations of Americans over the past decade. However, the highest percentage of proponents and the most dramatically increasing support for gay marriage (51% in 2003 and 70% in 2013) belongs to the “Millennials” who were born after 1980. It seems obvious to us that the young American adults are much more open to same-sex marriage than the older generations. This, of course, in the near future, will decisively make the legal union of same-sex couples easily acceptable to the whole society. (Nam)
Reference:
PewResearchCenter (2013, March 20). Growing support for gay marriage: Changed minds and changing demographics. Retrieved on September 15, 2015 from: http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/20/growing-support-for-gay-marriage-changed-minds-and-changing-demographics/
4. Data Commentary-1
The graph pattern shows the change in trend of the opinion of Americans about same-sex marriage from 2003 to 2013. From the graph pattern it is very clear that, in the year 2003 there were 58% of the Americans opposing the concept of same sex marriage and only 33% were supporting the concept. Thereafter, there was a steady change in the trend of opinion throughout the time of the study. Exceptions include the year 2004 and 2009; there was an increase in the number of people compared to the previous year; who were opposing the same sex marriage compared to that of the people who were supporting it. In the year 2011, the graphs crossed each other. That means the number of people who were supporting it outgrew the number of people who were opposing it. In the year 2013 the percentage of people who were supporting same sex marriage was 49% and the percentage of people opposing same sex marriage was 44%. This dramatic change in opinion of same-sex marriage over a short span of tem years could be due to generational change. In the year 2003 the number of millennial generation (born after 1990) supporting same sex marriage was 51%. Similarly the 41% for Gen X (1965-1980), 33% for the baby boom (1946-1964) and 17% for the silent (1928-1945) generation were supporting it. In the year 2013 numbers changed drastically. That is, 70% of the millennial generation were supporting the same sex marriage. Similarly the percentage of the various generations who were supporting it were 49% for Gen X , 38% for the baby boom and 31% for the silent generation. So there is an overall increase in trend among all kinds of generations of Americans who were supporting the same sex marriage from 2003 to 2013. However the percentage of millennial generations who were supporting same sex marriage was much more compared to that of the other generational types. So the study shows that the supportive nature of the millennial generations over same sex marriage affected the overall opinion of Americans. (Sankar)
Pew Research Center. (2013, March 20). Growing support for gay marriage: Changed minds and changing demographics. Retrieved on September 15, 2015 from
http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/20/growing-support-for-gay-marriage-changed-minds-and-changing-demographics/
5. Data Commentary #1
According to the ‘Millennial, Religion and Gay and Lesbian Issues Survey’ investigated by Public Religion Research Institute in July 2011, we can tell the societal acceptance of same-sex marriage is changing over the years. The survey has 3,000 respondents, which are divided into three groups: general public, millennials (age 18-29), and seniors (age over 65). Four questions are posted within the survey, which included people’s acceptance towards gay marriage legalization, children adoption, civil unions’ formation, and rights protection from job discrimination for homosexual couples. The result shows that 140 people support gay marriage legalization; 158 people support children adoption; 184 people support civil unions’ formation; and 208 people support rights protection of job discrimination. In other words, for most people, they are more tending to agree with gay couples who fight against job discrimination rather than allowing them marry legally. To each question, the number of millennials is the highest, while the number of seniors is lowest. From this survey we can learn that most people support gay couples’ sharing the same right as others in their workplace. However, they cannot accept homosexual marriage legalization comparatively. Moreover, the plots imply that different generations have different opinions to this issue, in which young people are more hospitable to LGBTs while old people are hard to accept this fact. (Jieying)
Reference:
Jones, R.P. (2011, July). Millennial, Religion and Gay and Lesbian Issues Survey. Republic Religion Research Institute. Retrieved September 15, 2015, from:
http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/PRRI-Views-on-Selected-Gay-Lesbian-Issues-by-age-.jpg
6. Data Commentary #1
The argument about gay and lesbian marriage is important and famous in the world. The graph, “views on selected gay and lesbian issues by age” points out the different attitudes of people of different ages. Comparing the different age ranges, including the general public, and comparing millennials and seniors, millennial people have more positive attitudes on marrying legally, adopting children, forming civil unions and protecting gay and lesbian people against job discrimination. However, the seniors have more negative attitudes in these fields. Among the gay and lesbian issues, all the age periods support protecting them against job discrimination.
According to this graph, we can see the right is the important part in social life, also including gays and lesbians. The article, “Julianne Moore And Ellen Page Fight For Gay Rights — Toronto Film Festival” shows that that is the kind of social issue that has been specialized in and regularly put a human face on. (Songhe)
Reference:
Hammond, P. (2015. Sep. 14). Julianne Moore And Ellen Page Fight For Gay Rights — Toronto Film Festival. Retrieved on Sep.14, 2015 from: http://deadline.com/2015/09/julianne-moore-ellen-page-gay-rights-toronto-1201525580/
7. Survey Analysis
The Public Religion Research Institute made a survey in July of 2011. The purpose was to learn the view of the population in relation to selected gay and lesbian issues. In the study a universe of three thousand people were surveyed and the respondents were classified into three groups: the General public, Millennials, who are between 18 and 29, and Seniors, who are 65 years or older. The responders were asked about four general questions: Allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally; allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children; allowing gay and lesbian couples to form civil unions; and Laws that would protect gay and lesbian people against job discrimination. The answers were classified in terms of the percent of people who approved each of four questions.
The results of the survey obtained for the Institute evidenced that Millennials was the group that offered a more receptive attitude in relation to lesbian and gay issues. General Public followed this behavior and Senior was the group who was approached and was more unreceptive to the four gay and lesbian issues. In relations to the questions, the matter related to laws to protect against job discrimination was the topic better received by the respondents. On the other hand, the worst reception showed for the respondents was related to allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally. The children’s adoption occupied the second place and the forming of civil union occupied the third place in terms of positive reception. (Elliot)
Jones, R., Cox, D. and Cook, E. (2011, August 29). Generations at Odds, the Millennial Generation and the Future of Gay and Lesbian Rights. Public Religion Research Institute. Retrieved on September 15, 2015 from http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/PRRI-Report-on-Millennials-Religion-Gay-and-Lesbian-Issues-Survey.pdf
8. Data Commentary- 1
According to a survey by Pew Research Center, there has been a growing support for gay marriages over the past 10 years. The first figure in the survey shows that from the year 2003 to 2013, the percentage of adults opposing gay marriage has decreased from 58% to 49%, whereas the percentage of adults favoring gay marriage has increased from 33% to 44%. The second figure illustrates the percentage of each generation favoring gay marriage from year the 2003 to 2013. It has been shown that for each generation, the number of people supporting gay marriage has increased. The survey finds that 70% of Millenials, born after 1980, favor gay marriage and this percentage has considerably increased from 51% in 2003. Support for gay marriage has increased not only among young people but also among older generations. For example, the percentage of Silent generation in favor of gay marriage has increased from 17% in 2003 to 31% in 2013. There has only been a slight increase in the number of middle-aged generations supporting gay marriage. For example, 49% of Gen X generation supported gay marriage in 2013 whereas 41% of Gen X was in its favor in 2003. Similarly, the percentage of Baby Boom generation favoring gay marriage increased only by 5%; it being 33% in 2003 and 38% in 2013. It can be concluded from the survey that during the past 10 years, a population of people belonging to various generations have changed their minds and they have shown an increasing support for gay couples.
Generalization- From the survey, it can be generalized that over the years, people have started accepting gay couples in the society. It can be due to change in the mindset and also due to an increase in the population of a particular generation like the “Millennials” who are strongly in favor of giving equal rights to gay couples. (Harnoor)
Reference-
Growing support for gay marriage: changed minds and changing demographics. (2013, March 20). Pew Research Center. Retrieved on September 15, 2015 from http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/20/growing-support-for-gay-marriage-changed-minds-and-changing-demographics/
9. Data Commentary
From a survey, a chart shows the percentage of three groups of people: General Public, millennial (Age 18-29 in July 2011) and seniors (Age 65+ in July 2011), who support allowing same-sex marriage, allowing same-sex couples’ adoption, allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions and laws that protect same-sex couples against job discrimination. The chart shows that 47% of the General Public, 62% of the millennials and 31% of the seniors support allowing same-sex marriages; 53% of the General Public, 69% of the millennials and 36% of the seniors support allowing same-sex couples’ adoption; 62% of the General Public, 71% of the millennials and 51% of the seniors support allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions; and 71% of the General Public, 79% of the millennials and 58% of the seniors support laws that protect same-sex couples against job discrimination.
I found an interesting relation from this data, which is that the value of the percentage of the general public is almost equal to the average of the support of the millennials and the seniors, for which the error from these four types of questions are 1.0%, 0.94%, 1.6% and 3.5%. These can imply a rule in the future that G ≈ (M + S)/2 when G denotes the supporting percentage of the General Public, M denotes the supporting percentage for the millennials and S denotes the supporting percentage for the seniors. If we have more surveys on these three types of people which follow this rule or have the small amount of error, we can use this to estimate the opinions from one type of these people without having a survey, if we have the other two groups’ opinions. For example, if we want to know how many people in the general public support a law, we can have a survey on the millennials and the seniors which I give 61% and 51% and by the formula, we can estimate that the general public should support this law around 56% ((61 + 51)/2 = 56). (Ariyawat)
Jones, R.P., Cox, D., & Cook, E. (2011, August 8). Survey | Generations at Odds: The Millennial Generation and the Future of Gay and Lesbian Rights. publicreligion. Retrieved on September 15, 2015 from
http://publicreligion.org/research/2011/08/generations-at-odds/#.VfiE4BFViko
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