BY

Married Americans spend more than those in any other marital status category, across age groups. Americans who have never married spend significantly less, particularly for those younger than 50, suggesting that if the marriage rate increases, overall spending in the U.S. may increase and benefit the U.S. economy.

The U.S. marriage rate has declined in recent years, but recent Gallup analysis shows that it is possible that the marriage rate in the United States will go up in the future, based on a pent-up demand for marriage. Based on the spending habits of married Americans compared with their single counterparts who have never married, such a change could be expected to give a boost to the economy, if those marriages come from the ranks of those who are single/never married. Similarly, an increase in the percentage of Americans living in domestic partnerships as opposed to being single would have an apparently positive impact on the economy. If, however, Americans in the future become less likely to jump from single status to marriage and more likely to move into domestic partnerships, the impact on the economy would be less significant.

Read more at TheSeattleLesbian.com

The Seattle Lesbian online magazine reaches more than 188,000 readers per week globally

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BY MORGAN WELCH

The question of what terminology to use regarding the LGBT community is a tricky one; given the potential for insult, this can make marketing especially hazardous. To determine which terms are favored over others, Community Marketing Inc. conducted a survey of more than 10,000 gay or bisexual men, 4,000 gay or bisexual women, and over 400 transgender people.

The verdict: the survey respondents were most in favor of “LGBT,” with approval ratings ranging from 70 percent (bisexual men) to 87 percent (lesbians). The longer but more inclusive term “LGBTQQIA” actually received the least amount of approval; the people who disliked it the most were gay men, with only 10 percent approving, while the ones most in favor were transgender people, at 42 percent.  Less surprisingly, given its history, only 16 percent (gay men) to 38 percent (transgender people) of respondents were in favor of seeing “queer” used in marketing.

Read more at dot429.com

The post LGBT community likes to be called… LGBT first appeared on Lesbian.com.

In light of the recent Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) ruling, OneGoodLove, the Internet’s leading relationship-focused online dating service for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) singles, announced the release of its “Marriage Equality State of the Date Report.” Findings of the report, based on a survey of 875 LGBT singles, suggest that while the Supreme Court ruling on DOMA and California’s Proposition 8 aren’t putting social pressure on gay and lesbian people to immediately “tie the knot,” many gay and lesbian singles are now more likely to consider marriage their ultimate relationship goal because of the court’s recent landmark decisions.

Improved Outlook on Marriage Since the DOMA Ruling

Sixty-three percent of LGBT singles surveyed said they were more likely to think of marriage as their ultimate dating goal now that the Supreme Court has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), with only 35 percent saying that their outlooks have not changed.

When asked whether or not the recent cultural shifts and gains in marriage equality would help their parents see their same-sex relationships in a more positive light, 37 percent of the LGBT participants said yes, 22 percent said no, and 41 percent said that their parents already see their relationships as a positive thing.

Thirty-eight percent of the transgender respondents said that the cultural shifts and gains in marriage equality would help their parents see their relationships in a more positive light, but only 13 percent said that their parents already see their relationships as a positive thing.

Eighty-seven percent of all LGBT singles reported that increases in same-sex marriage rights would not increase the societal pressure on them to settle down and tie the knot.

LGBT Marriage Material

Forty-four percent of gay and lesbian singles reported that honesty was the most important quality for a future husband or wife to have. Thirteen percent of lesbian women reported intelligence as the most important quality in a future wife, and 15 percent of gay men said a sense of humor was the most important quality in a husband.

Thirty-seven percent of all participants said that communication was the most important personal quality they would have to improve to make a future marriage work. Twenty percent said they would have to get their lives in better financial order to marry and live happily ever after.

Seventy-six percent of all gay and lesbian singles surveyed said they see marriage in their future. Only 66 percent of bisexual and 50 percent of transgender singles see marriage in their future.

LGBT Wedding Bells Ringing

Forty-two percent of all LGBT participants said they wanted a small wedding gathering of just friends and family, and 24 percent said they wanted a low-key ceremony and reception.

Only six percent of gay men wanted an “over the top party with everyone they had ever known,” while 18 percent of bisexual and 14 percent of lesbian singles wanted the same. None of the transgender respondents wanted an over the top wedding.

“This survey points to the tangible, romantic hopefulness in the gay and lesbian community right now,” said Frank Mastronuzzi, Co-founder and Chief Love Officer at OneGoodLove.com. “ Commemorating that hopefulness, on July 17, OneGoodLove.com launched a billboard in West Hollywood, California, reflecting the shifting dating and relationship goals emerging in the LGBT community. The billboard features two men kissing, with copy that reads: “First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage.”

For survey details, and to see the billboard, visit the OneGoodLove blog at: blog.onegoodlove.com

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BY THESEATTLELESBIAN.com

As the United States and other countries grapple with the issue of same-sex marriage, a new Pew Research Center survey finds huge variance by region on the broader question of whether homosexuality should be accepted or rejected by society.

The survey of publics in 39 countries finds broad acceptance of homosexuality in North America, the European Union, and much of Latin America, but equally widespread rejection in predominantly Muslim nations and in Africa, as well as in parts of Asia and in Russia. Opinion about the acceptability of homosexuality is divided in Israel, Poland and Bolivia.

These are among the key findings of a new survey by the Pew Research Center conducted in 39 countries among 37,653 respondents from March 2 to May 1, 2013.

Read more at TheSeattleLesbian.com

The Seattle Lesbian online magazine reaches more than 188,000 readers per week globally.

The post Going global: International perspectives on homosexuality first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY SARA GATES

According to the results of a European Union survey, discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is still widespread in Europe. Released Friday, the online survey of more than 93,000 LGBT people in 27 EU members states and Croatia found nearly half the respondents said that in the previous year they had “felt personally discriminated against or harassed on the grounds of sexual orientation.” Two-thirds of those polled also indicated they were afraid to hold hands with their same-sex partner in public; the percentage was even higher for gay or bisexual men.

Launched in 2010, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights was tasked with collecting survey data on hate crimes and LGBT discrimination in EU member states. As the report’s authors note, the startling results “will contribute to much needed discussions in the EU and its Member States about concrete legislative and non-legislative measures to improve the situation for LGBT persons living in the EU.”

Click over to the FRA’s site to read the full report or read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Europe: Majority of same-sex couples fear showing PDA first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY THESEATTLELESBIAN.com

Currently, 47 percent of Americans view being gay or lesbian as a sexual orientation individuals are born with, while 33 percent instead believe it is due to external factors such as upbringing or environment. That 14-percentage-point gap in favor of “nature” over “nurture” is the largest Gallup has measured to date. As recently as two years ago, the public was evenly divided.

The movement toward viewing same-sex orientation as an innate preference follows the larger trend in Americans’ more positive attitudes toward gays and lesbians. The May 2-7 poll also finds that sixty-five percent of Americans believe gay or lesbian relations between consenting adults should be legal, numerically the highest Gallup has measured by one percentage point, but not materially different from what Gallup has measured for the past three years. From 1986-1988, only about one-third of Americans thought gay and lesbian relations should be legal.

Read more at TheSeattleLesbian.com

The Seattle Lesbian online magazine reaches over 188,000 per week globally.

The post Born this way: Poll addresses nature vs. nurture first appeared on Lesbian.com.

(Photo: Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT)

BY 429MAGAZINE

America’s youth are continuing to support equal rights for the LGBT population, with a new public opinion poll released by the Pew Research Center revealing that 70 percents of Americans born after 1980 support marriage equality. The “millennials,” are leading a change in overall public opinion, which has even seen those born between 1928 and 1945 nearly doubling their support for marriage quality, from 17 percent to 31 percent in the latest poll.

Millennials saw a massive increase in support, with only 51 percent in support of marriage equality in a 2003 poll. The youth are now some 27 percent of the American population, which the Pew Center says will be a major determining factor in the future of the LGBT rights movement.

Read more at dot429.com

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Marriage equality supporters Teri McClain, left, and Mary Beth Brotski in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

BY ZACK FORD
ThinkProgress

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that nearly two-thirds of voters (63 percent) support the federal government recognizing same-sex marriages when they’re legal in states, while only 34 percent oppose this recognition. This is the question the Supreme Court is weighing in a case about the Defense of Marriage Act. The poll also found that a majority (53 percent) continues to support same-sex marriage, while only 42 percent oppose it.

One other interesting finding shows that there has been a similar trend in regards to whether people believe individuals are born gay or if it’s a choice. In 2013, many more individuals understand that sexual orientation is an innate identity (50-31) than they did in 1999 (41-38), a 16 point shift.

Read more at ThinkProgress.org

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BY HUFFINGTON POST GAY VOICES

Support for marriage equality for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Americans has grown across all 50 U.S. states over the past eight years, a new report has found. Over the past eight years, every U.S. state has increased in its support for same-sex marriage, with an average increase of 13.6 percent, and if the public opinion trends continue at the same pace, eight additional states will be above 50 percent support by the end of next year.

Published by the UCLA’s Williams Institute, “Public Support for Marriage for Same-Sex Couples by State” examines each state’s current stance on the legality of marriage equality, as well as the overall change in public opinion since 2004.

Read the full Williams Institute poll here.

Read the original article at Huffington Post Gay Voices

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(AP Photo/Mike Groll)

BY ZACK FORD
ThinkProgress

A new poll from Quinnipiac University has found the strongest support for marriage equality a Quinnipiac poll has ever found. For the first time, a Quinnipiac poll shows 50 percent support same-sex marriage while just 41 percent oppose it, a 28-point shift from just five years ago (36-55). Beyond that result, 56 percent believe that the question of same-sex marriage should be decided by the U.S. Constitution, while only 36 percent believe it should be left up to state laws. Perhaps the Supreme Court will similarly consider that gays and lesbians deserve equal protection under the Constitution instead of allowing individual states to continue to discriminate.

Read more at ThinkProgress.org

The post Poll: Marriage equality is not a state issue first appeared on Lesbian.com.