Views on SSM vs. Views on Cohabitation

I think Robby is correct that views on cohabitation may break down along some of the same demographic lines as views on SSM.  I should have been more precise, though, in explaining what I mean by noting the "fear-based terms" that I've observed in some (though by no means all) of my conversations about SSM with the 50+ crowd.   Often the fear is focused not so much on SSM, but on gays and lesbians themselves.  This distinguishes it from views on cohabitation, I think.  I don't know anyone who fears the people who engage in the act of extramarital cohabitation, though I know plenty of folks (count me as one) who fear the consequences of widespread normalization of extramarital cohabitation.  I do know folks -- and most of them are over 50 -- who fear the harmful effects that gays and lesbians themselves might have on their children or grandchildren, quite apart from SSM.  That fear underlies part of the opposition to SSM.  For younger generations, they are less likely to associate SSM with "homosexuals" as an ominous category, and more likely to associate SSM with specific friends that they have who happen to be homosexual.  They are not afraid of their friends, and thus that component of the fear-based opposition evaporates.  I think that's different than the dynamic with cohabitation.

There are rational arguments against SSM that have nothing to do with fear of gays and lesbians, and Robby, Maggie Gallagher, and others are making them.  The primary challenge for SSM opponents, as I see it, is to separate one's opposition to SSM from one's views on gays and lesbians.  For many voters, my guess is that, as the latter improves, the former tends to weaken.