Republicans are becoming more open to marriage equality and civil unions for gay and lesbian couples

According to new surveys, Republicans are becoming more open to marriage equality and civil unions.

A CBS News/New York Times poll released Monday found that 49 percent of the delegates to the Republican convention support allowing same-sex marriages or civil unions. Prior to these results, a similar CNN/Opinion Research Poll – conducted in May – found that nearly half of delegates surveyed supported either same-sex marriages or civil union. Twenty-four percent supported same-sex marriages, while 27 percent backed civil unions. Forty-three percent backed neither option.

Meanwhile, our friend Joan Garry offers a detailed list of John McCain’s views on GLBT issues in a piece at The Huffington Post, including:

• “I don’t believe in gay adoption.”
• “I believe that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is working in the military.”
• He voted against adding sexual orientation to federal hate crimes legislation in 2000, 2002 and 2004.
• And he voted against extending the Civil Rights Act to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation.