[LINK] "Shifting attitudes take gay rights fight across globe, experts say"

[rfmcdonald]

CNN has the story down correctly. This is why coming out is so important: if you find out that a person you like belongs to an abstract class you've no experience of but strongly dislike, you're quite likely to change your mind about the class, not the person. This is especially true if the change happens while society as a whole is visibly coming to this realization.

[A]ttitudes are changing, and waning are concepts that homosexuality harms children, defies biblical teachings or destroys the fabric of society.

"Public attitudes don't change really quickly, but this is one that's changing really, really quickly," Powell said.

The trend is similar abroad, especially among younger people, said Suzanne Goldberg, a Columbia University law professor who heads the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law. The center has handled asylum cases for gay people fleeing persecution in countries including Jamaica, Brazil, Uzbekistan and Ivory Coast.

Research indicates younger people are beginning to see sexual orientation as "benign variation, so that the differences between gay and nongay couples are simply not so interesting," Goldberg said in an e-mail.

"Once that happens, societies have less interest in distinguishing between relationships of gay and nongay couples," she added.

[. . .]

Powell has been collecting data on American attitudes since 2003. While the full data will be released in his book in September, his research adds a layer of nuance to the poll numbers: Though many Americans simply do or do not recognize gay couples as families, 80 percent of Americans consider gay partners a family if they have children.

His research shows American definitions of family are becoming flexible, he said, likening the same-sex marriage debate to the rumblings preceding the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision authorizing interracial marriages.

Before the miscegenation ruling, researchers found younger people, those with liberal religious views and voters with higher education levels had fewer qualms with interracial marriages.