Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd tied the knot on May 17, 2004, in Cambridge, Mass., following a protracted court fight that ended with the legalization of same-sex marriage in that state.

The couple was not involved in the Massachusetts case for equal marriage rights that went all the way to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. But once the court ruled and Massachusetts became the only state to offer equal marriage rights, Hams and Shepherd were the first in line for a marriage license — literally.

The couple, who have now been together for 28 years, waited outside Cambridge City Hall for 24 hours until it opened at midnight.

"To have the highest court of your state stand up for you is not theoretical," Hams said. "It’s a big change."

The "big change" of gay marriage generated protests by religious conservatives and catapulted the divisive issue into the 2004 presidential election campaign.

Now, just two short years later, new research suggests that U.S. public opinion on gay rights issues is evolving quickly and that opposition to same-sex marriage is shrinking.

Opposition to equal marriage rights for gays has declined significantly and more people support adoption by gay couples and allowing gays to serve openly in the military, according to the new poll released by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Pew polled a randomly selected sample of 1,405 adults from March 8-12.

"I’m very glad to see the numbers of people supporting equal marriage rights increasing," said Judith Schaeffer, deputy legal director of People for the American Way. "[Americans] are seeing that the boogeyman the religious right created doesn’t exist. The sky hasn’t fallen."

Opposition to gay marriage was measured at 63 percent in February 2004, during a presidential election year when the issue dominated headlines after the Massachusetts high court ruling. But in 2006, barely half of those polled — 51 percent — say they oppose gay marriage.

There also was a significant decline among those "strongly opposed" to equal marriage rights: from 42 percent in 2004 to 28 percent in March 2006.

A separate survey of Californians, conducted by Field Poll, a nonpartisan polling organization, released March 22 reflected the same increase in acceptance of gay marriage.

The poll found that in February, 43 percent of California respondents approved of equal marriage rights. A 1997 poll found that 38 percent of those surveyed supported same-sex marriage.

The Pew poll also showed a growing majority favor overturning the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

In a 1994 poll, 52 percent of respondents opposed the ban. This year, 60 percent of those polled favored lifting the military ban.

"In virtually every community, constituents are sending a clear message to their elected leaders that the time has come to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’" said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. "Congressional leaders should heed their constituents and lift the ban."

End of backlash or real progress?

While gay rights groups applauded the poll results, the cause of the changing poll numbers was difficult to determine, but some experts said the Massachusetts court decision created a backlash against gay rights, which is beginning to recede with time.

"With the heat of the 2004 election behind people, and the drama surrounding the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision, it sort of faded from the public’s attention," said Michael Dimock, associate director at Pew. "A lot of people don’t feel particularly strongly about this issue."

When the issue is not in the headlines, people’s "default" response appears to be "let people do what they want to do," said Dimock.

"Is it possible for gay marriage to be a politicized issue the way it may have been in 2004?" said Dimock. "The next time a politician tries to use that issue, maybe it doesn’t resonate."

John Samples, a public-opinion analyst for the conservative think tank Cato Institute, said that polling data from the upcoming midterm elections in November will help determine how an election year impacts opinions on gay rights issues. During recent election campaigns, politicians have framed gay marriage as a threat to heterosexual marriage, he said.

"Without an election, people may think of it in personal terms or they might not think about it," said Samples.

The issue is likely to land back in the headlines in June, when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a likely 2008 presidential candidate, has scheduled a vote on a constitutional amendment to ban states from marrying gay couples.

GOP opinions change

The Pew poll also showed a decline in strong opposition to equal marriage rights among Republicans surveyed. In July 2003, 43 percent of Republicans strongly opposed same-sex marriage. That number jumped to 59 percent in 2004, but declined back down to 41 percent in Pew's most recent survey.

The numbers show that Republicans in Washington, D.C., do not reflect the views of GOP voters, said Patrick Guerriero, president of Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group.

"The radical right has claimed somehow that gay rights are out of step with America," said Guerriero. "It’s the extreme right that’s out of step with America. The LGBT movement is no longer a creature of just the left."

But this apparent growing acceptance of gay marriage is not reflected among Democratic or Republican politicians, as the overwhelming majority of elected officials do not support equal marriage rights.

It’s a position that is not limited to gay marriage, said Schaeffer of People for the American Way.

Even though most Americans support employment nondiscrimination laws, the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act is still stalled in Congress, Schaeffer pointed out.

Blacks oppose adoption: poll

African Americans polled by Pew remained as opposed to gay adoption in the recent poll as they were in a 1999 survey. On the question of allowing gays to adopt, 58 percent of African-American respondents were opposed, the same percentage as in 1999. Fifty-eight percent of African-Americans who identified as evangelical Protestants also opposed gay adoption.

Fifty-seven percent of white Americans who were polled said they opposed gay adoption in 1999, but by 2006 that number dropped to 48 percent opposed. Among white Americans who identified themselves as evangelical Protestants, opposition was much higher. About 75 percent opposed it in both 1999 and 2006.

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