经济学人下载:幸福婚姻在美国

Gallup reported in May that for the first time ever a majority (53% to 45%) of Americans said that same-sex couples should have the same marriage rights as straight couples. In 1996, the time of DOMA, the majority leant 68% to 27% the other way. The controversial policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell”, which banned gays from serving openly in the armed forces, is meanwhile due to expire in September with surprisingly little hue and cry. And when National Journal polled political “insiders” this month, it found a majority of Democratic politicos, lobbyists and strategists in favour of making gay marriage legal. No less telling, a majority of their Republican counterparts, while continuing to oppose gay marriage, thought their party should just ignore the issue.

今年5月，盖洛普民意测试显示，有史以来第一次，大多数美国人认为同性伴侣应跟异性伴侣一样享有同样的婚姻权（持有此观点的美国占到了53%，而持反对观点的人占了45%）。而《捍卫婚姻法案》颁布的那一年，也就是1996年，反对同性婚姻的人占了大多数，当时的数字是68%，而支持的人仅有27%。如今，饱受争议的“不问不答”（这项政策旨在防止同性恋在部队中公开自己的性取向，以防引发歧视乃至有损士气的后果）政策也将于今年9月告一段落，而令人惊讶的是，人们对此并未有什么抗议。本月，《国家杂志》对重要政客展开民调，发现大部分民主党政客，说客以及策略家都赞同同性婚姻合法化。当然了，不用说，大多数共和党一方面继续反对同性婚姻，一方面认为民主党干脆就应该“不甩”这个话题。

That might make electoral sense. Since it is the young who are most relaxed about gay marriage, standing in its path might cost the Republicans dear in the future. The notion of denying gays the spousal rights available to others makes little sense to a generation that sees marriage at least as much as a union of soul-mates as a formal structure for child-rearing.

民主党此举对于自己的竞选来说大有裨益。现如今，年轻人对于同性婚姻最看的开，因此跟他们意见相悖对于共和党的前途很不利。有人认为，结婚是为了名正言顺的生儿育女，而婚姻之于年轻人来说主要是两个情投意合之人长相厮守， 至少，年轻人把两者看得同等重要，因此，其他人拥有结婚的权利，而同性伴侣却不能够，这种说法在年轻人这儿行不通。

To crusaders against gay marriage, however, the issue transcends electoral calculation. They say they are defending both God’s will and a vital child-centred institution that is already beleaguered enough. In this election cycle, Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman pursuing the Republican presidential nomination, has become a lightning-conductor on gay issues. In spite of having a gay stepsister, she has long put opposition to same-sex marriage at the centre of her politics. In 2004 she likened the gay lifestyle to “personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement”. The fact that her husband runs a clinic offering to cure gays of their supposed affliction has caused both indignation and merriment among metropolitan types.

然而，对于抵制同性婚姻的斗士来说，同性婚姻这个问题已经不是竞选能够丈量的了。他们称自己捍卫神的旨意，同时也在捍卫着“以孩子为中心”的重要社会习俗，而这一习俗已是受尽折磨，频临承受极限。米歇尔．巴赫曼是明尼苏达州国会女议员，她正奋力争取拿下共和党总统候选人资格，在这次选举周期里，她俨然成为了同性恋问题的一把“避雷针”。尽管自己的一个同父异母的姐姐就是同性恋，米歇尔一直以来还是把反对同性婚姻问题作为自己的核心政治立场。早在2004年，她就将同性恋生活方式与“人身依附”，“痛苦绝望”以及“个人奴役”画上了约等号。米歇尔的丈夫开了一家诊所，他们认定同性恋者饱受痛苦，于是为他们提供这方面的治疗，生活在大都市中的人们对于这一举动可谓是既愤慨又欢迎。