The day after President Barack Obama's historic declaration of support for marriage equality in May 2012, a 51?percent majority of Americans supported the President's decision, according to a poll conducted by Gallup. This was not the first survey to show popular support for same?sex marriage - a CNN/ORC poll from August 2010 initially presented this change in opinion as well. These striking numbers point to a growing movement to improve the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals, and the importance of LGBT issues in the minds of many Americans this election season.
Polling on LGBT rights began only recently, according to Associate Professor of Political Science Deborah Schildkraut.
"Pollsters didn't ask about marriage equality not that long ago because it wasn't something that was discussed," she said. "It wasn't something that policymakers were debating."
Schildkraut explained that the polls on the issue largely began when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize equal marriage. She said that polls have since shown an increasing trend within the United States toward acceptance of LGBT individuals.
"The question is if this is something that people feel strongly enough about to the point that it would affect their vote, but I would be very surprised if that's the case," she said.
While Schildkraut is wary of the impact of LGBT rights issues on voters' decisions at the ballot box, the presidential campaigns have still approached them as though they hold significant influence.
Throughout the Republican primary, LGBT?related issues - most notably marriage equality - were used to energize the party's base, according to Matthew Nelson, lecturer and Ph.D candidate in the Department of English. Nelson said that Republican candidates during this period presented these issues in a very conservative manner.
One such example is the pledge circulated by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) that promised to create a federal constitutional amendment banning same?sex marriage. Governor Mitt Romney signed the pledge alongside five other candidates, including Texas Governor Rick Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R?Minn.).
Since the national conventions, however, the conversation surrounding LGBT rights issues has been sparse. Nelson pointed to the nation's moderates - many of whom are highly sought?after independent voters - as a reason for the quiet stance Republicans have taken.
"Once you're out of that primary and once you're out of that race to the right, the Republicans realize there are middle?of?the?road people who are becoming increasingly friendly towards gay [rights] issues," he said.
The lack of discussion is surprising, though, as many expected it to be highly debated in light of Obama's support for marriage equality.
The reason for this lies in the fear that this would become an issue that could estrange voters, Nelson said.
In the three presidential debates and the vice presidential debate, LGBT rights were left out of the discourse. The word "gay" was never used in any of the four debates, according to an article published by The Advocate, an LGBT interest magazine, last week. This contrasts the 2008 presidential election, in which marriage equality and other concerns of the LGBT community were raised in both the presidential and vice?presidential debates.
Issues pertaining to the LGBT community are also not prominently featured on Romney's websites. Instead, they are included as a subhead in the section on his campaign website dedicated to "Values."
On Obama's website, LGBT rights are outlined in the section of "Equal Rights," but are also included is his "Obama Pride: LGBT Americans for Obama" campaign.
Emily Cardy, who co?teaches the ExCollege course "Love, Law and the State: The Evolving Right to Marry" with Ari Kristan, argued that the economy and other social issues have taken precedence over LGBT rights.
"Women's issues have been a bigger flashpoint than same?sex marriage," she said.
Despite the lack of political debate surrounding these issues, the candidates have taken very different stances in response to the LGBT community.
"This is one area where there are some pretty clear differences between the two candidates," Schildkraut said.
Schildkraut argued that Obama's support of marriage equality is potentially the clearest indicator of either candidate's position on issues relevant to LGBT individuals.
"The Obama administration has also stopped efforts to defend [the Defense of Marriage Act] DOMA in courts," Schildkraut said. "These are some very clear actions on the side of the Obama administration."
Romney does not support equal marriage and promotes the concept of "traditional marriage," which LGBT Center Director Tom Bourdon defined as marriage between one man and one woman. According to Bourdon, the Romney campaign has announced it will reinstate judicial support for DOMA, the 1996 legislation signed by President Bill Clinton that supports a traditional definition of marriage at the federal level.
Bourdon also explained that Romney continues to support the movement by NOM toward a federal constitutional amendment against same?sex marriage. He did question the impact these stances might have on LGBT?identifying citizens if Romney were elected.
"What's not clear to me is, if they were to get that constitutional amendment through, if that means for someone such as myself, who is legally married in a state that recognizes it, that it would actually erase my marriage and every same?sex marriage that exists to this day," he said.
Romney's stance on equal marriage, though, is not new. As governor of Massachusetts during a time when marriage equality was approved by state legislators, he was vocal in his disagreement on the issue.
"When Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he vehemently opposed same?sex marriage and did a lot to try to block people from out of state getting married here using the 1913 law," Kristan said. That law was originally enacted as one of many anti?miscegenation laws throughout the country, which banned marriage between white and black citizens.
Another LGBT?related issue that has received much attention recently was Obama's repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell," the policy that banned gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces. According to Bourdon, Romney and vice?presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan's (R?Wis.) stances on this issue oppose Obama's, but the issue itself is no longer a point of focus for the campaign.
"These men have fought to keep Don't Ask Don't Tell on the books, but at this point they've said what's done is done, and they won't be fighting that anymore," he said.
Areas where the two candidates have convergent views include hospital visitation rights and combating workplace discrimination. According to Schildkraut, Obama is a supporter of the Employment Non?Discrimination Act (ENDA).
This bill, which has been proposed in all but one Congress since 1994, would defend LGBT individuals from being discriminated against by employers. While it is unclear whether or not Romney would approve the bill in its current form, he has been a proponent of it in the past.
"Romney and Ryan have shown their support for ENDA in the past, which would protect LGBT people," Bourdon said.
Obama has enacted or supported even more legislative change for the LGBT community than those already listed. At the start of his presidency, according to English Lecturer David Valdes Greenwood, Obama put into place increased protections for some gay and lesbian families.
"The president has already worked toward using executive orders or other powers of his office to make things happen like benefits for same?sex couples in hospital settings and to give increased, equal access to protections for gay and lesbian partners of members of the government," Valdes Greenwood said.
These efforts by Obama continue more recently on the issue of immigration.
"He also instructed the Justice Department not to allow gay and lesbian partners' deportations or to review them more carefully," Valdes Greenwood said.
Valdes Greenwood cautioned that discerning Romney's stance on these questions could prove difficult.
"I don't think we're going to see him be quite clear, as he wasn't in Massachusetts," he said, arguing that Romney would likely follow the Republican Party's stance on these issues.
Despite the multitude of political issues that exist for the LGBT community, the majority of them are pushed aside for the debate on marriage equality. Still, Kristan said that the LGBT community itself often uses marriage as a deciding issue.
"To some extent, I believe that marriage becomes somewhat the litmus test for [which candidate] the LGBT community decides to support," she said. "It's a way for candidates to show their support without getting into some of the thornier issues."
This, in part, explains the narrow focus both campaigns have taken toward the LGBT community. For Queer Straight Alliance co?president Max Tanguay?Colucci, the constant emphasis on marriage alienates his peers from the political discourse.
"I feel like a lot of people our age are dismissing politics in relation to LGBT issues," Tanguay?Colucci, a sophomore, said. "They feel that same sex marriage is the only issue that's being discussed and it doesn't have an effect on them."
In spite of the problems that marriage equality may pose to the LGBT community, it is difficult to ignore its relevance to this election cycle. In four states - Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington - referenda on marriage equality are on the ballot. Kristan emphasized that each state's referendum was unique.
"They're so different, and I think it's because every state has a slightly different process for doing this," she said.
According to Kristan and Cardy, the question being asked in each state is different. Minnesota, unlike the others, is voting for or against the banning of equal marriage in the state's constitution. In Maryland and Washington, the referenda challenge the approval of legislation that has passed in support of marriage equality.
In Maine, on the other hand, Kristan said that the referendum is a straightforward, "up or down" vote on whether the state should grant marriage licenses to same?sex couples.
Kristan noted that Maine was also unique in that it has previously seen the issue of marriage equality on the ballot. In 2009, Maine voters blocked a bill approved by state legislators that would have allowed same?sex marriage within the state. That ballot question, though, was not in a major election year, which could make the difference, according to Kristan.
"This year you have the presidential election, and Maine also has a highly contested senatorial race," she said. "So you're going to have a much higher turnout across the political spectrum and the conventional wisdom is that this helps proponents of same?sex marriage."
"Every time it's been on the ballot people have voted against marriage equality, but it might just be a matter of time," Schildkraut added.
Schildkraut cautioned though that, historically, these ballot initiatives have helped Republican candidates.
"The other big analogy to that is 2004, where these campaigns on these ballot issues were very effective at mobilizing people and while they were there, they voted for George Bush," she said. She continued that it is unclear whether the change in public opinion cited earlier will change past precedent.
Others reflected on these ballot initiatives with more optimism.
"I do really believe that we will either have one or two states where the voters pass gay marriage at this election," Valdes Greenwood said. "That's going to change all of the rhetoric because the anti?gay forces will never again be able to say the people didn't want it."
While states will continue to vote for or against marriage equality, Cardy argued that, ultimately, this is an issue that will not be decided at the ballot box, but rather in courts.
"There is probably no more important institution with the greatest potential for impact than the Supreme Court, and a lot of cases significant to the LGBT community will be decided by it," Cardy said.
Currently, two major cases are making their way through the federal court system. Just a week ago, Judge Dennis Jacobs of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional. A similar decision was made in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Proposition 8, the ban on same?sex marriage in California that was approved by voters in 2008.
Cardy said that the Supreme Court would soon hear both cases. She therefore felt that the most important stance on LGBT rights issues taken by the two presidential candidates was tied to their view of the role played by the Court's justices.
"We have two justices who are old, and chances are the next president is going to appoint at least one, if not two, court justices," Cardy said. "Both candidates, I think, actually have pretty well thought out [their] feelings about the philosophies of Supreme Court justices and what they're looking for in a justice."
Regardless of who wins and gets to make such decisions, Bourdon said that he hopes equality will be at the forefront of their agenda.
"Whichever party gets elected into office, my hopes are that we will see more rights given to people, as opposed to taken away, to create more equity in this country," he said.
