CNN's latest poll: Gay not a choice

Yesterday we mentioned CNN's "Uncovering America: Fighting for Acceptance" series, which aims to shed light on the continuing efforts of LGBT Americans toward achieving equal rights and acceptance. While the programming announced for the news channel seemed well-intentioned and for the most part promising (with perhaps a bit too much emphasis, as one reader pointed out, on the "ex-gay" phenomenon), the articles on CNN's website have so far been standouts.

Today's main story, which also ran on the site's traffic-heavy main page, boasts a headline of "Poll Majority: Gays' orientation can't change". In the opening lines the story makes clear the significance of the poll: for the first time in history, the majority of people polled on the issue of whether gays "choose" their sexuality said that they do not believe that sexuality is a choice. This group made up 56 percent of respondents, up from 45 percent in 2001 and 36 percent in 1998.

The poll also noted that those opposing gay civil unions or gay marriage were in the minority (43 percent), as were those opposing gay adoption (40 percent).

Are these whopping numbers? No -- and it's by no means a sign that work toward equal rights and for gay visibility is done. But it is an encouraging sign, both in the poll results themselves and in CNN's willingness to place the news front-and-center.