sides in this debate, what resolution groups are looking for, or how the issue of marriage
affects other gay rights issues. This survey-experiment examines the effects of
alternative justification frames and question-order on attitudes towards same-sex civil-
unions and marriages. It also examines the potential priming effect the issue of same-sex
marriage has on other relevant rights issues such as fair job and housing practices,
military service, and the broader protection of civil rights for homosexuals. The project
provides a greater understanding of how the public views the debates over same-sex
marriage as well as its impact on other facets of the gay rights movement.
Some Definitions:
A number of terms are used throughout this paper that would benefit from
conceptual clarification before proceeding. A civil union or domestic partnership is a
legal arrangement that guarantees the couple many of the rights offered by the institution
of marriage in the locality in which it was issued (Gomes 2003). Marriage, by contrast,
offers opposite-sex couples a greater list of rights, including legal guardianship over
incapacitated individuals, survivor’s benefits, and inheritance rights, among others; all of
which follow the married couple despite interstate travel or relocation through the Full
Faith and Credit Clause (Eskridge 1996; 66).
Defense of Marriage Acts seek to legally define marriages as a union between a
man and woman to avoid couples suing for the right to marry within the state and
recognition of resident couples that were married in other states (Kersh 1997; 135). Also,
the terms subject (which commonly refers to individuals enrolled in an experiment) and
respondent (an individual participating in a survey) are used interchangeably throughout
the paper due to design’s survey-experimental nature.
3
Convention