Polls on Same-Sex Marriage State Laws

[memphis]

Why the apostrophes, CARL?

There's a a quotation attributed to Abraham Lincoln that asserts that calling a tail a leg is simply false.

'Gay marriage' is a definitional falsity.

I'm married. It's a reality, legally and socially. Your opinion doesn't matter to me. If I lived in some other state, it would for legal reasons. But the trend for the future is clear.

Brittain, I support your marriage. I can't figure out why anybody wouldn't. Out of spite, I suppose. Need I remind you, however, Massachusetts recognizes your marriage, but the federal government does not. You're still not all the way there legally.

[memphis]

As such, it seems to me that persons incapable of procreating should be given civil unions and marriages reserved for those capable of procreating with their legal partner.  

This isn't a very conservative concept. In fact, it's a radical innovation, more radical by far than homosexual marriage. The true conservatives of the ancien regime would have wanted you lynched.

LOL.

Why do you think I'm joking? You have just radically altered the definition of an institution.

You assertion is laughable, to I laugh at it.

You suggested a fertility test for marriage. That would be a very strange situation indeed. Especially as fertility is not always binary. A forty something woman might be able to get pregnant, but it'd be a lot harder than in her college (or even high school) days. Men usually don't have a problem with age, except for what I'll delicately call the Viagara situation.
And do you have to be fertile only to initiate marriage or do you need all your organs in functioning order to remain married. Seems strange to deny a marriage license to a woman a month after the onset of menopause, when she could have gotten grandfathered in with the same man just the year before. Then you'd need regular checkups to ensure people are still fertile. Once a woman goes through the change of life, you'd need to annul the marriage. Should all women be forced to send the state their medical records at that point so that they can have their marriages cancelled?  Because that's the logical conclusion of your fertility argument.

[memphis]

There are some problems with "inquiry" methods of ascertaining information. You're right that how a question is worded is hugely important. When gathering public opinion, you don't want to push people with weasel words. "Should so and so be recognized" sounds pretty neutral to me. "Should we change the definition of marriage" is clearly pushing a conservative stance. It encourages the appeal to tradition fallacy. 
In the above Gallup graph, the wording has remained consistent except for one change in 2005. And there wasn't a lot of change around 2005. If it bother you that much you could just break the graph into two sections and see that there was a great deal of change from 1996-2005 and then also from 2006-2011.
Also, suggesting that the sea change of opinion in the graph is about people suddenly deciding to lie to pollsters when they weren't lying just a few years back doesn't sound like a strong position to me. If you want to assert that public opinion on this issue hasn't changed, you need some evidence to back that up. Polling, from a reputable firm, over several years, with a consistent phrasing. Happy searching!

[memphis]

I think Marriage certificates should be given to pregnant women in order to compel their Male Lovers to provide child support. 

You want to force people into marriage? Just FYI, if two people are married, then there's typically no need for child support. It's when they're not married that you typically see court orders forcing men (and very rarely women) to pay child support.
While we're dictating our desires for legalities and parenthood, I very much want to see a mandatory DNA test before any man can be listed as a father on a birth certificate. I don't care if the couple is married or not. Men have a right to know, and having to ask for such a delicate thing is an undue burden.