Half of Americans
don't want their state to recognize gay marriages

Half of all Americans disapprove of same-sex marriages and do not want their states to recognize the ones performed in Massachusetts, the only state where same-sex marriage is legal, a new survey by The Boston Globe shows. Forty-six percent said the marriages should be recognized. The poll results, released Sunday, also showed that 50% of Americans disapprove of gay and lesbian marriages, while 37% approve, and 11% are neutral. The poll of 760 randomly selected adults was conducted May 4-9 by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6%. Massachusetts began granting marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples a year ago after a landmark decision by the state supreme judicial court that declared the state could not prohibit same-sex marriages. More than 6,000 gay and lesbian couples have since tied the knot in the state. Although the poll found that half of Americans disapprove of gay marriage, 46% of those surveyed said they support civil unions that would provide gay couples with "some but not all of the legal rights of married couples." Forty-one percent opposed civil unions. Americans older than age 65, Republicans, Protestants, regular churchgoers, and Southerners were more likely to oppose same-sex marriage. People under age 35, Democrats, and people who do not attend worship services or attend sporadically were more likely to support gay marriages. (AP)