Message #55923

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/south-carolina-republicans-no-negative-marriage-equality
South Carolina Republicans: No ‘negative’ in marriage equality
2/21/15

South Carolina Republicans have weighed in on the issue of marriage equality in their state, and the majority see no negative in it.

Sixty-one percent of Republicans note that the legalization of marriage equality – which came to the state last November – has not negatively impacted them, according to new numbers by Public Policy Polling. That figure is compared to 60% of respondents who feel that legal same-sex marriage hasn’t impacted their lives at all and the 31% who claim it’s had a negative impact on their lives.

South Carolina famously became the 35th state where marriage equality became legal after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay a federal ruling that struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant a stay to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.

The poll results come as the Supreme Court gears up to take up the issue of national marriage equality when it hears all cases from the Sixth Circuit and as Texas grapples with the issue.

Similarly, a recent Marist poll shows that only 45% of potential South Carolina Republican voters find it acceptable for a candidate to oppose marriage equality.

Before it was struck down, South Carolina enacted a ban on marriage equality in 1999, which voters reaffirmed through an amendment in 2006.