Cross-posted from the Prop8TrialTracker.

In yet another poll on marriage equality, an LA Times poll released yesterday showed that a majority of registered voters support marriage equality:

Registered voters surveyed in the latest poll  said 52% to 40% that “same-sex couples should be allowed to become  legally married in the state of California.”

That’s the latest in a string of surveys that have found similar  results. A PPIC poll released March 25 found respondents  backing gay marriage 50% to 45%.  And a Times/USC poll last November found a 51% to 43%  split on the issue.  As with the previous surveys, the latest Times/USC poll showed a sharp  polarization by political party and ideology, with Democrats and  liberals supporting same-sex marriage by large margins and Republicans  and conservatives opposing it by equally lopsided margins. (LA Times)

Of course, this poll doesn’t mean that we could win a ballot fight. As we learned in 2008, these polls have a bias of about 3-5 points in favor of marriage equality. It seems many people don’t want to admit to a questioner that they are bigoted, but are cool with doing so once they step in to a voting booth.  Before I would feel comfortable, I’d like to see that number at closer to 58 or 59 percent for an extended period of time.  I think that would allow us a comfortable victory.

But that being said, things worth having are rarely won with comfortable victories. When we go back to the ballot in 2012, we will have to work our butts off. The Prop 8 trial very well may not be concluded by November 2012. And frankly, at some point we are going to have to win at the ballot box to show that America is well and truly changing. Until then, all we have is the general notion of change.

I was going to write something about all the change that will be, but a commenter, Nancy, did so at the LA Times quite well. Rather than making the point myself, I thought I would reproduce the comment here.  Most of the comments at these newspaper sites tend to be viscous personal attacks, homophobic slurs, and all sorts of smears. Yet, that’s not always the case. Without further introduction, Check out Nancy over the flip.

I guess I just don’t get it. I am in a happy, heterosexual relationship  that is leading to marriage. I am religious – Babtist in my upbringing,  in fact. Yet I simply cannot figure out how and why the marriage of a  gay couple would threaten my partner and me in any way. I know of no  divorces that were caused by some gay couple somewhere.

The  arguments against gay marriage are arbitrary and completely irrational.  It’s time to get on to far more important issues, like education, the  economy and the environment. I believe the polls and seriously doubt  that it’s some sort of liberal plot to convert everyone to gayness. Come  on, folks, get a grip.

An ironic story – someone very close to  me who is against gay marriage is in a mixed-race relationship. It  wasn’t that long ago that her partner, a black man, would have been  lynched for being with a white woman. The message: we who believe in  equal rights shall overcome. And there’s a lot of hypocrisy in this  whole issue.

Hang in there, my gay friends. We shall indeed  overcome.