GRAPHIC: Civil Unions 2000-2008, Marriage Equality Now

Hat/tip to Scott Wooledge

Finland Enacts Marriage Equality

Finland becomes the last of the Scandinavian countries this week to embrace marriage equality when its Parliament enacted a bill to do so by a vote of 105 to 92. Finland has had the equivalent of civil unions (called registered partnerships) since 2002.

Think Progress reports:

Prime Minister Alexander Stubb praised the legislature for “approaching the same level as that of other Nordic and Western countries on this very delicate and difficult issue,” referring to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, all of which already allow same-sex couples to marry. Finland previously allowed same-sex couples to register their partnerships, but they were not allowed to marry. 

Although the law might not take effect until 2016, the vote makes Finland the 18th country in the world to approve allowing same-sex couples to marry nationwide. This tally does not include the United States and Mexico, where marriage equality is still localized, or countries like Australia and Colombia who have extended some recognition to same-sex couples, but not full marriage rights. The last country to approve marriage equality was Luxembourg in June, and that law could take effect as soon as January of 2015.

The bill was considered by the Finnish Parliament through an unusual process by which citizens were able to sign a petition to encourage lawmakers to vote on the issue.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Domestic Partnership Law Despite 2006 Initiative

The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a ruling yesterday upholding the constitutionality of that state's domestic partnership law against a challenge that it violated the 2006 statewide initiative that banned marriage equality and any “legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage.”

So, people who oppose same-sex marriage in Wisconsin are also so heartless that they want to oppose domestic partnerships as well. Wisconsin also has a bizarre statute on the books which can subject you to prosecution if you attempt to violate their marriage laws.

Luckily, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that domestic partnerships are distinct from marriage. Remember, we're not talking about civil unions here, which are (or were) another legal entity created on the way from complete non-recognition of same-sex relationships to full marriage equality.

Interestingly, right now Wisconsin is just a federal judge's stay away from having full marriage equality be the law of the land. Until then, same-sex couples at least have access to domestic partnership benefits in the meantime, thanks to the state's highest court.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Colorado Marriage Law Struck Down (Decision Stayed); Marriage Licenses Being Issued In Boulder and Denver

Well, well, well! Good things are happening in Colorado regarding marriage equality this week. Just yesterday, a state judge ruled that Colorado's ban(s) on marriage equality are unconstitutional. Colorado enacted a civil unions law last year (doesn't that idea seem quaint now, post-Windsor?) and the judge used its existence as part of his reasoning for why Colorado's marriage laws are discriminatory in his opinion in Brinkman v. Long:

“The Court holds that the Marriage Bans violate plaintiffs’ due process and equal protection guarantees under the Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution." 

“The existence of civil unions is further evidence of discrimination against same-sex couples and does not ameliorate the discriminatory effect of the Marriage Bans.”

But wait, there's more! After the 10th U.S. Circuit issued a ruling striking down Utah's marriage law a few weeks ago, the County Clerk of Boulder read the decision (which was stayed pending appeal) and decided to start issuing marriage licenses. In order to get her to stop doing that, the Governor and Attorney General agreed to file a statement with the court that the marriage laws of Colorado are unconstitutional but to agree to wait until a final ruling is issued by the Colorado Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court to issue marriage licenses. However, the judge in that lawsuit ruled in favor of the Boulder County clerk and said she can continue issuing marriage licenses:

Boulder County clerk who has been issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of Colorado’s gay-marriage ban can continue, a judge ruled Thursday. Boulder County Judge Andrew Hartman decided county clerk Hillary Hall can ignore a federal stay on a ruling from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver that states cannot set gender requirements for marriage. The judge said gay marriage is still technically illegal in Colorado but that Hall’s behavior was not harming anyone. But he said all who receive a license should be warned that they could still be invalid if a judge finds after trial that Hall didn’t have the authority to issue them. Hartman also noted that every judge — including one in Colorado the previous afternoon — in the past year has ruled that gay marriage bans are unconstitutional and that Colorado’s prohibition is “hanging by a thread.”

In light of this decision, according to the Denver Post clerks in Denver and Pueblo counties have also started issuing marriage licenses. So, unless a court steps in soon (which at this point would probably have to be the Colorado Supremes) marriage equality is coming to the Centennial State in hours instead of months!

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

WATCH: Historical Progress of Marriage Equality From 1973 To 2013

The blog themendozaline.tumblr.com has produced a very cool animated gif which demonstrates the historical progress of marriage equality from statutory bans on same-sex marriage in the 1970s to creation of civil unions in the late 1990s to constitutional bans in the 2000s and the advent of marriage equality in the blue states in the 2010s.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

New Jersey Supreme Court Agrees To Decide Marriage Equality Case

The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed to expedite an appeal of a lower court's ruling that could lead to same-sex marriages beginning in less than two weeks. The state's highest court set a briefing schedule that will not only allow it to decide the issue of whether a stay should be issued on whether the lower court ruling should go into effect on October 21 but also allow the court to decide the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's U.S. v. Windsor in the context of state jurisprudence. The Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in the underlying question January 6-7, 2014.

New Jersey is one of a handful of states (Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada and Oregon) which have purportedly granted equal treatment under the law to same-sex couples using a legal entity distinct from marriage. With the federal government now recognizing legal state same-sex marriages for various federal purposes like social security, income taxes and immigration you have the situation where states that intended to grant equal rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples as legally married opposite-sex couples legally can not do so unless they grant those couples access to federal benefits, which can only happen through a state-issued marriage. In fact, you have an even odder situation where a same-sex couple could go to a state and get married and go back to their home state (which does not recognize their marriage) and that couple would have more rights (due to federal law and public policy) than a same-sex couple in a civil union or registered domestic partnership.

The situation in New Jersey is actually pretty clear cut because the Supreme Court issued a ruling called Lewis v. Harris that ordered the state to treat same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples equally under state law, which led to the enactment of a civil union law. This context led a lower court judge to rule September 26th that marriages in New Jersey needed to begin October 21 and which is being appealed by Governor Chris Christie despite polls showing nearly two-thirds of the New Jersey public wants the state to stop preventing marriage equality from coming to the Garden State.

I expect the Court will agree to issue a stay on the lower court ruling until it makes a final determination in Garden State Equality v. Dow. Otherwise the Court would be allowing marriages to start occurring only to have them stop if they decide to overturn the lower court.

There's also other issues complicating New Jersey's path to marriage equality in 2013: there is a January 2013 deadline to override Christie's earlier veto of a marriage equality in the state Legislature, Christie is up for re-election this November and there are currently two vacancies on the 7-member state Supreme Court being filled temporarily by appellate court judges. Despite these complications, I expect that New Jersey will have marriage equality by this time next year.

QUEER QUOTE: NJ Judge Rules In Favor Of Marriage Equality

Big news out of New Jersey from yesterday. A judge ruled that the state's legally mandated requirement to treat same-sex and different-sex couples equally as a result of 2005's Lewis v. Harris ruling is not being met since after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. v. Windsor same-sex couples in civil unions are being denied federal benefits.

The concluding paragraph from the ruling is today's Queer Quote:

The ineligbility of same-sex couples for federal benefits is currently harming same-sex couples in New Jersey in a wide range of contexts: civil union partners who are federal employees living in New Jersey are ineligible for marital rights with regard to the federal pension system, all civil union partners who are employees working for businesses to which the Family and Medical Leave Act applies may not rely on its statutory protections for spouses, and civil union couples may not access the federal tax benefits that married couples enjoy.  

[...] 

This unequal treatment requires that New Jersey extend civil marriage equally to same-sex couples to satisfy the equal protection guarantees of the New Jersey Constitution as interpreted by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Lewis.  Same-sex couples must be allowed to marry in order to obtain equal protection of the law in New Jersey.

Republican Governor Chris Christie opposes marriage equality and has previously vetoed legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry in New Jersey despite super-majority popular support for marriage equality among New Jersey voters.

If the Governor does not appeal the ruling then same-sex couples will be able to start getting married starting October 21.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

GRAPHIC: Marriage Equality Throughout Europe

With England's completion of the enactment of same-sex marriage earlier this month, it's instructive to review the geographic distribution of marriage equality throughout the European continent. The above map indicates that Spain, Portugal, France, England, Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Norway are all dark-blue marriage equality states. Additionally, there are many other states in Europe which have other forms of legal recognition for same-sex couples. Of the dark-blue marriage equality states only Iceland and Norway are NOT members of the European Union.

There are ten European countries (in red) which have constitutional bans prohibiting recognition or legalization of same-sex marriage: Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine. Half of these countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) ARE members of the European Union.

It will be interesting to see how the European Union will resolve the question of marriage equality. I would guess that the EU will have uniform laws recognizing same-sex couples well before the United States does.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

British Parliament Completes Passage Of Marriage Equality Bill!

Woo hoo! The British Parliament has completed its work on the marriage equality bill with final passage happening late Monday Tuesday fternoon. The last step for the measure to become law is Royal Assent.

Pink News reports

The equal marriage bill was passed in the House of Commons, and as all amendments added in the House of Lords were accepted, it will not be required to go back to the Lords.

[...]

The publisher of PinkNews.co.uk and Out4Marriage founder Benjamin Cohen said this evening: “We are delighted that after five years of editorial campaigning and just three years after we received the support of the three main party leaders, Parliament has finally approved same-sex marriage.

“Giving gay couples the right to marry will make Britain a more tolerant, open and welcoming place to live in and significantly increase the life prospects of so many people. It is absolutely fantastic that this change in the law, almost uniquely, was proposed by a Conservative prime minister and his Liberal Democrat Deputy with the support of the Labour party leader. Sometimes politicians can work together for the common good and this is a stunning example of this.”

Congratulations to England and Wales! Apparently, same-sex couples will be able to start getting married sometime next year and couples in civil partnerships will be able to convert them into marriages at that time.

UPDATE WED 07/17/2013 10:50AM EDT
Royal Assent has been given, so marriage equality is the law of the land in England and Wales!

POLL: Support For Marriage Equality In NJ At 60%

New Jersey is one of the few states in the country that has a civil union law which is also trying to enact marriage equality. The primary obstacle to marriage equality becoming the law in the Garden State is Republican Governor Chris Christie, who not only denounced the Supreme Court's recent ruling overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, but has also previously vetoed a marriage equality bill.

However, it appears as if the public opposes their Governor, since a recent poll indicates that 60 percent of respondents support marriage equality, which is actually a slight reduction from a poll earlier this spring which indicated marriage equality support was a few points over 60 percent. It should be noted that New Jersey borders Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware. New York has had marriage equality since summer 2011 and Delaware's marriage equality law recently went into effect exactly two weeks ago.

Surely New Jersey will join its neighbors sooner rather than later?

Saturday Politics: The Marriage Equality Map After Next Week

This is a screenshot from a useful interactive map created by the New Yorker which demonstrates the possible scenarios of the likely outcomes in the two Gaytterdämmerung cases before the United States Supreme Court expected to be announced by Thursday June 27.

As I have indicated in the graphic, the most likely outcome is that DOMA is struck down in U.S. v. Windsor and Proposition 8 is struck down due to a lack of standing by proponents in Hollingsworth v. Perry. This would result in same-sex couples having access to full state and federal marriage equality in 13 states and the District of Columbia by the end of the summer (Delaware's marriage law goes into effect on July 1; Rhode Island and Minnesota on August 1).

The great thing is by this time next week we will know with great certainty what the marriage map will look like in the near future.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

France Officially Enacts Marriage Equality!

France officially enacted marriage equality this weekend when Socialist President Francois Hollande signed the measure passed by the French legislature last month into law on Saturday, one day after the nation's highest court ruled that the measure was indeed constitutional. France became the 14th country in the world to open civil marriage to same-sex couples.

Hollande made "marriage for all" a central plank of his presidential election campaign last year. On Friday, he tried to turn the page on months of bitter opposition to the measures, arguing it was "time to respect the law and the Republic".  

And he warned that he would tolerate no resistance. 

"I will ensure that the law applies across the whole territory, in full, and I will not accept any disruption of these marriages," said the president. 

French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, who steered the legislation through parliament, has said the first gay marriages could be celebrated as early as June. 

Marriages in France must take place in town halls, most of which take around four weeks to process marriage applications. 

The issue of gay marriage and adoption has provoked months of acrimonious debate and hundreds of protests that have occasionally spilled over into violence and is unlikely to drop off the political agenda. 

Although the Constitutional Council approved the bill on Friday, the International Day Against Homophobia, its opponents have vowed to fight on.

Felicitations!

Marriage Equality In Brazil Crosses 100 Million Threshold

Progress for marriage equality in Brazil is increasing rapidly, as word comes that the tally is now 13 of 26 states (and the federal district) allow same-sex couples to marry legally, instead of going through an annoying two-step process of getting a civil union and then having a local judge rule that the civil union must be recognized as a marriage, which is the state of the law thanks to a 2011 ruling by the Brazil high court.

Freedom to Marry summarized the current marriage equality state of play in Brazil:

Since 2011, federal marriage laws in Brazil have been somewhat confusing; on May 5, 2011, the Supreme Federal Court voted to allow same-sex couples nationwide many of the legal rights as married couples (through a mechanism called "stable union"), and since June 2011, same-sex couples joined together in "stable union" may petition judges to convert their union into a marriage. The two-step process to being married can be performed across Brazil, but now many jurisdictions have ordered a final end to the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage. 

In these states (and the federal district), couples can marry in Brazil without the two-step process: Alagoas (December 2011), Sergipe (July 2012), Espíritu Santo (August 2012), Bahía (November 2012), the Brazilian Federal District (December 2012), Piauí (December 2012), São Paulo (December 2012), Ceará (March 2013), Paraná (March 2013), Mato Grosso do Sul (April 2013), Rio de Janeiro (April 2013), Rondônia (April 2013), and now Paraíba and Santa Catarina (April 2013). 

Now, nearly 60% of the population of Brazil live in states where same-sex couples can marry without the two-step process.

As I mentioned when I blogged about Rio de Janeiro enacting marriage equality last week,  population of Brazil is nearly 200 million people, so 60% means that there are way more than 100 million people who have access to marriage equality in Brazil, which is probably the most anywhere in the world!

Hat/tip to Box Turtle Bulletin

ALERT: Delaware Marriage Vote Down To One Senator

Joe.My.God sounds the alarm that the pending vote next week in the Delaware Senate on marriage equality appears to be very close. In fact according to analysis by the Delaware Liberal blog,  it may come down to the vote of one single State Senator: Brian Bushweller (D-Dover). Democrats have a 13-8 advantage in the State Senate, but there have been defections by 3 Democrats: Bruce Ennis, Bethany Hall-Long and Robert Venables, Sr. Happily, Republican Catherine Cloutier is bucking her caucus and voting for equality which means the vote is expected to be tied 10-all with Bushweller being the deciding vote on whether same-sex couples will get the right to marry this year, or will have to wait a little longer.

Bushweller can be reached by email at brian.bushweller@state.de.us and by phone at 302-674-5442. Information about other legislators (for example, Cloutier, Ennis, Hall-Long and Venables) can be found here. Hall-Long's opposition is notable, because she is the only one of the 6 women in the State Senate who says she is voting against making the issues of marriage licences gender-neutral in her state.

Hopefully, Mr. Bushweller will do the right thing and vote to enact marriage equality now. I don't really see how a comfortably blue state where every state-wide elected federal official has endorsed marriage equality will be able to resist the tide of history for very much longer.

Rhode Island Senate Passes Marriage Equality 26-12!

Excellent news! The Rhode Island Senate has just passed a marriage equality bill by a vote of 26-12, ensuring that the Ocean State will become the 10th state in the United States of America to have marriage equality. The State House had passed the measure 51-19 way back in January, and will have to reconcile the slightly different language "protecting religious liberties" in the Senate-passed version from the bill that passed the House. Openly gay Soeaker of the House Gordon Fox says that will probably happen next Thursday on May 2, and Governor Lincoln Chaffee has promised to sign the bill into law.

Senate President Theresa Paiva Reed allowed a vote on the measure (Senate Bill 0038 A) even though she personally opposed marriage equality and in 2011 she had used her position to prevent a House-passed marriage equality bill from becoming law.

Illinois and Delaware still have marriage equality bills pending which have passed one house of the legislature in each state.

Oregon Marriage Equality Ballot Fight On Track For 2014

Marriage equality activists in Oregon announced in February that they intended to start the process to amend their state's constitution to allow same-sex couples to get married. Apparently they are circulating two different potential ballot measures, but the Attorney General has decided to give both of them the same title and summary, namely:

Amends Constitution: Recognizes marriage between couples of same gender; protects clergy/religious institutions' refusal to perform marriages.

The polling for passage of a marriage equality initiative in Oregon looks relatively encouraging. Last summer, polling showed public opinion closely split (45-46) on marriage equality but more recent polls show Oregonians (like the majority of Americans) support marriage equality. Oregon would be the first state to affirmatively overturn at the ballot box a previously passed "mini-DOMA," which would be significant because more than 30 states have done so in the last decade.

The decision to move forward with the ballot fight may be complicated by the Supreme Court's upcoming late June decision in the Hollingsworth v. Perry case deciding the (un)constitutionality of California's Proposition 8. If the court leaves Proposition 8 legally intact (an unlikely outcome) or the status of marriage equality subject to many more years of litigation (a not unlikely possibility) then there will be intense pressure in California to return to the ballot in 2014 to repeal Proposition 8 and legalize marriage equality in the nation's largest state (again).

Queer Quote: Justice Alito Lies About Gay Marriage

Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two very important cases involving marriage equality, Hollingsworth v. Perry and United States v. Windsor. The first case is about the Proposition 8, and the fundamental question at stake is about whether there exists a fundamental right to marry for same-sex couples.

Justice Samuel Alito, widely expected to rule against the rights of same-sex couples, said something during the hearing which is today's Queer Quote.

 JUSTICE ALITO: Traditional marriage has been around for thousands of years. Same-sex marriage is very new. I think it was first adopted in The Netherlands in 2000. So there isn't a lot of data about its effect. And it may turn out to be a -- a good thing; it may turn out not to be a good thing, as the supporters of Proposition 8 apparently believe. But you want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution which is newer than cell phones or the Internet? I mean we -- we are not -- we do not have the ability to see the future.

Ummm, really? "Traditional marriage has been around for thousand of years"? What does that even mean? This notion that "(traditional) marriage" has been around, unchanged, as a particular idea for thousands of year is a pernicious and resilient flat-out lie. Have you ever heard of the concept of coverture? The idea that marriage has been the same for thousands of years is simply laughable.

And notice how Alito uses the ideas of "the Internet" and "cell phones" as proxies for things which have recently been developed, i.e. not been around for very long. The reality is that the Internet has been around since the 1960s, but most Americans, when they think of (or see) the word "internet" generally think about access to the world wide web, which only achieved critical mass in the mid-1990s. Similarly, Alito deliberately uses the term "cell phones" (which have actually been around since at least the mid 1980s) because most Americans when they hear that term are almost certainly thinking of smartphones (or most likely iPhones) which have only been around since June 2007. But, legal same-sex marriage has been around in the United States since May 17, 2004 and since 2000 in Europe. Alito is deliberately trying to give the impression that legal same-sex marriage is something recent and dangerous.

Interracial marriage was legalized in 1967 with the Loving v. Virginia. Same-sex marriage is vastly more popular now then interracial marriage was then. Was that Court trying to see the future also? It's just an infuriatingly stupid argument, which is probably why Alito made it.

Well, we have until the end of June to see on what side of history Justice Alito will place himself.
Any guesses?

Queer Quote: OH Gov Flip-Flops On LGBT Equality (In 10 Hours)

John Kasich is the Republican Governor of Ohio, serving in his first term, where he has been relatively unpopular. Rob Portman, the junior U.S. Senator from Ohio, made news recently when he came out in favor of marrige equality, the first Republican Senator to do so. That statement was last week's Queer Quote, and it has spurred political reporters go around and ask other prominent Ohio politicians their views on marriage equality.

LGBT Think Progress reports what happened:

Kasich was asked if he could imagine a situation that might cause him to change his position.“I really can’t see one, I mean, I talked to Rob and encouraged him,” Kasich said. “If people want to have civil unions and have some way to transfer their resources, I’m for that. I don’t support gay marriage.”“I’ve got friends that are gay and I’ve told them ‘Look, (same sex marriage) is just not something I agree with’ and I’m not doing it out of a sense of anger or judgment, it’s just my opinion on this issue.”“I just think marriage is between a man and a woman, but if you want to have a civil union that’s fine with me,” Kasich said.

But then a mere 10 hours later, Gov. Kasich's spokesperson "clarified" Kasich's position:

The governor's position is unchanged. He opposes gay marriage and opposes changing Ohio's Constitution to allow for civil unions," said Nichols. "He's opposed to discrimination against any Ohioan and, while he may have used the term 'civil union' loosely in this instance, he recognizes the existing rights of Ohioans to enter into private contracts to manage their personal property and health care issues."

It should be noted that the Governor is up for re-election in 2014 and that Ohio's constitution bans both marriage as well as civil unions ("a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage").

This is a position opposed by the vast majority of Ohioans and Americans, with roughly two-thirds supporting some legal recognition for same-sex couples and about one-quarter banning any recognition under the law.

Colorado Civil Unions Bill Signed Into Law

Primarily as a result of the 2012 elections which resulted in Democrats winning back control of the lower House, Colorado now has a civil unions law, joining other 8 states with "everything-but-marriage" statutes that attempt to give all the state-conferred rights and responsibilities of marriage without the use of the word.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

POLL: U.S. Support for Marriage Equality Hits 58%

Although a couple weeks ago I blogged about the rapid increase in support for marriage equality and yesterday I noted that former First Lady (and future President) of the United States Hllary Clinton has joined the pro-equality side, even I was not prepared for the latest ABC/Washington Post poll which shows 58%-36% national support for marriage equality.

Results of this survey extend evidence of a remarkable transformation in public
attitudes. Views on basic social issues often move slowly, if at all. Support for gay marriage,though, has gone from 47 percent to today’s 58 percent in just the last three years – culminating a period of change first endorsed by some state courts, then by some political figures, notably with Barack Obama expressing support for same sex-marriage last May, a position he went on to underscore in his second inaugural address in January.  

Gay marriage today is legal in nine states and the District of Columbia, and civil unions are legal in eight more states (and were approved last week by the state Legislature in a ninth, Colorado). Thirty-one states ban gay marriage by constitutional amendment. 

Sharp differences across groups remain, but there have been large advances across the board. In one striking gap, gay marriage is supported by a vast 81 percent of adults younger than 30, compared with just 44 percent of seniors. But that’s up by more than 10 points in both groups just since March 2011, and by more than 20 points in both groups since 2004, the low point for gay marriage support in ABC/Post polls. 

On the political front, 72 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of independents favor legalizing gay marriage, vs. far fewer Republicans, 34 percent. Still that’s up by 18 points among Republicans since 2004, as well as by 24 and 29 points among independents and Democrats, respectively.

The poll attemots to explain the rapid change by noting the correlation between people who support marriage equality and people who believe that homosexuality is "something people choose to be" but "just the way some people are."

This correlation is summarized as "Among the declining number of people who see homosexuality as a choice, just 29 percent support gay marriage, with nearly seven in 10 opposed. Among those who reject this view, support for same-sex marriage soars to 73 percent." Note that more than twice as many people (62%) think homosexuality is not a choice compared to the small fringe (24%) who do.

The margin of error in this poll is 3.5 percentage points and was conducted March 7-10, 2013 with a nationally representative sample of 1,003 American adults over 18.