For IU sociologist Brian Powell, what started out as surveys to collect national data sets turned into a revealing study on Americans’ views of family and same-sex relations.
In his new book “Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans’ Definitions of Family” — co-authored with sociologists Catherine Bolzendahl from University of California-Irvine, Claudia Geist from University of Utah and Lala Carr Steelman from University of South Carolina — Powell compares and analyzes results from his 2003 and 2006 surveys.
“We asked questions on people’s views about birth order, about single-parent households, gender, views about family policy — it was a really broad set of questions,” Powell said.
“The ones we really thought were the most interesting groups were people’s views about gay and lesbian couples with children (and) gay and lesbian couples without children. Those are the groups, especially with the same-sex couples, that there’s been an awful lot of change.”
Powell and his team of graduate and undergraduate students from the IU Center of Survey Research found in their most recent survey from summer 2010 that two-thirds of respondents now consider same-sex couples with children as families, up from one-half in 2003.
He said he sees three main ways Americans identify families: the traditionalists, or
exclusionists, who define family through legal or religious means; the moderates, who believe a couple is a family if there are children involved; and the modernists, or inclusionists, who define family as people who act like a family by loving and caring for each other.
Junior Brooke Watanabe, who grew up with same-sex parents in a small town in Indiana, said she associates more with a broader definition of family.
“When I was younger, the idea of a mom and a mom was a little out there for (my peers),” Watanabe said. “I think (a family) is any support system that you have in your life where you’re loved and accepted for who you are.”
In addition to broader definitions of family, fewer people are opposed to same-sex marriage than before, Powell said. The number of respondents who said they strongly opposed same-sex marriage decreased from 45 percent in 2003 to 35 percent today.
“The point about writing a book was when we saw the changes were actually happening — not only changes, but other factors that were linked to people’s views,” Powell said. “In a fairly short period of time, things have actually changed a lot more than people think.”
Watanabe said exposure to different types of families, as well as a high nationwide divorce rate, can challenge the typical idea of a family as consisting of a mom, dad and kids. Powell also attributes the changes in attitudes to gay visibility in the media and popular culture.
“The sheer fact that (82 percent) of people even say they know someone who is gay is a sign of real change,” Powell said. “That means either people have been more open or others have become more open or willing to actually hear it.”
However, there is still progress to be made before many Americans are comfortable with the idea of same-sex marriage and families, Watanabe said.
“In a lot of areas, it’s still kind of a taboo topic,” Watanabe said. “It makes it hard to talk about.”
With Indiana’s amendment to ban gay marriage and civil unions, politics also complicates the situation. Powell said the problem is that the group who is most supportive of same-sex marriage, those younger than 30, is also the least likely to vote. As members of this generation get older, however, they are likely to keep their same, open views.
“I think legislatures overall are behind where the American people are,” Powell said. “I’m actually pretty optimistic about the future in terms of where we’re headed, in terms of same-sex relations.”
Same-sex Survey
• In 2003, nearly 41 percent of respondents supported gay marriage, yet 53.6 percent agreed that two men living with a child constituted a “family,” and 55 percent said the same thing about two women living with a child. By 2010, 52 percent said they were in favor of gay marriage, and 68 percent said they believed that gays living with kids are families.
• Between 2003 and 2010, the number of people who adamantly opposed gay marriage declined from 45 percent of the survey’s respondents to 35 percent. IU sociologist and author Brian Powell said they still represent a powerful political bloc because this issue is especially important to them.
• More acceptance for same-sex couples as families was found along the East and West coasts. Respondents in the Midwest were mixed. The most resistance was found in the South.
• 30 percent of respondents considered pets as family but not gay couples as family.
• In 2003, the researchers found that 20- to 29-year-olds were the most supportive of gay marriage; by 2010, that group had expanded upward to age 38. The age group least supportive of gay marriage was 65 and older in both surveys, but the younger and more supportive group did not appear to become more conservative about the issue as it aged.
• In 2003, 58 percent of respondents said they didn’t have any family or friends who were gay. By 2010, 40 percent said they didn’t have any gay friends or relatives. Only 18 percent said they didn’t know anyone who was gay.