http://www.newswise.com/articles/exp...e-court-ruling
The Loving v. Virginia ruling and the subsequent accelerated acceptance of interracial marriages attests to Americans' willingness to expand their definition of the family, Powell said. Americans have expanded their view in many ways, including how they view mothers who work outside of the home. Powell is seeing this same trajectory concerning views of same-sex couples and same-sex marriage. "Interracial marriage in the 1950s was something people didn't talk about. It was something people were uncomfortable talking about. As long as there was silence, there couldn't be acceptance. But since Loving v. Virginia, there has much more open discussion of this topic. We see a similar pattern today with same-sex marriage and civil union. These topics were not part of our national conversation until around a decade ago. But the discourse has changed dramatically and has become more open in the past few years."
*
The demographic factors that predicted acceptance of interracial marriage through the years are very similar to the factors that predict support for same sex marriage. The factors include higher levels of education, gender -- women were more supportive of more expansive definitions of the family -- and age, young people are more likely to challenge the boundary. "The arguments that currently are used to oppose same-sex marriage closely mirror the arguments that were used in the past to oppose interracial marriage," Powell said. "
It's evident that debates regarding same sex marriage are very reminiscent of the debates in the past about interracial marriage."