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Attitudes Towards Same-Sex Marriage Essay

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Over the course of the last several decades, attitudes in the U.S. about same-sex marriage have been shifting from conservative to more liberal. Many factors such as change in attitude of older generations, as well as wider acceptance among younger generations, have contributed to this shift in outlook. But even with the support the gay and lesbian community has been gaining, many still oppose same-sex marriage and rights’, and most states still ban the legalization of it. Even with all the opposition though, within the next thirty years, acceptance of same-sex marriage will continue to grow resulting in changes in law that allow for same-sex marriage in most states.
Even though same-sex marriage is illegal in most states, the trend in …show more content…

If this upward trend continues the way it has thus far, the majority of Americans will soon be supporting same-sex marriage well before this decade is over.
So why have recent generations been recently experiencing a change in attitude toward the issue? Experts believe both current younger, as well as older generations, have both been transforming from a more conservative mindset to a more liberalized mindset due to exposure to gay and lesbians and various cultural events that have been brought to light in recent decades (Madrid & Rice, 2013, p. 46; Baunach, 2011, p. 350).
Older generations, who had not previously had much contact or knowledge of homosexuals in the past, have now become more comfortable with them because of the exposure gays and lesbians have in modern society. More and more gays and lesbians have become open about their homosexuality to the general public in recent decades, giving heterosexuals more exposure to homosexuality that they previously might not have been exposed to. This exposure could have lead them to dispel any myths, preconceived notions or even unwarranted fear of what they did not know.
Additionally, various cultural and entertainment events have been brought to the spotlight also adding to this exposure. The AIDS/HIV pandemic, court cases and legislation such as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, the murder of Mathew Shepard- an openly gay man in conservative Wyoming, and television and movie entertainment such

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