The Political Foundations of Support for Same-Sex Marriage in Canada
نویسندگان
چکیده
Public support for legal recognition of same-sex marriage increased markedly in Canada over the course of the 1990s. While changes in fundamental values likely account for part of the increase, the speed and magnitude of aggregate opinion change in this domain casts some doubt on strictly sociological explanations for the shift. The argument of this paper is that a sequence of high-profile Supreme Court decisions in the realm of same-sex relationship recognition—and the legislative activity that followed as a result—played a pivotal role in shaping public opinion on the issue of gay marriage. It is argued that the impact of these institutions was twofold. First, by framing the issue as one of equal rights, the courts and legislatures induced many Canadians to weigh equality-related considerations more heavily in the formation of opinions on same-sex marriage. Second, legal recognition of same-sex relationships directly persuaded many Canadians that such recognition was legitimate. The aggregate impact of these two processes, it is argued, accounts for much of the shift in support for legal recognition of same-sex marriage over the nineties. The paper uses data from the Canadian Election Studies for 1993, 1997 and 2000. Matthews – The Political Foundations of Support for Same-Sex Marriage in Canada 3
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