I don't know what world you lived in, MAC, but the idea that morality was "worse" in the 1950's and early 60's and "quietly accepted" is a remarkable stretch from the reality of American life 60 years ago. (Sounds kinda like a Hollywood revisionist perspective to me).
Well I gave you several reasons. If same-sex marriage is the only equivalent to your definition of morality, then you're correct we're more immoral today. Simply because a society restricts something such as birth control, abortion, privacy, it isn't necessarily proof of a higher degree of morality. There are areas I would agree with you, such as video games, Hollywood movies and internet sex availability among others. And I lived through the 40's 50's and 60's, and yes, out-of-wedlock pregnancies were frowned upon, which meant forced marriages, sending her to Aunt Claire, back-alley abortions. And everyone was aware of what went on, but ignoring it all meant they were more moral.
Cultural rejection of homosexuals didn't equate to better morality either; nor did social shunning of interracial marriages. Pedophilia within families was kept under the rug as was abuse by others in positions of responsibility. Drunk driving was far more of a joke than it is today. Kids could go into the raunchiest of bars. We could go on, but yes, many things were less moral than they are today.
As much as I may regret it, I'm going to continue with another question for you....
Have you ever been to a country with either no traffic laws, or unenforced traffic laws? (like, say, India where people drive on the wrong side of the road at full speed because they feel like it??)
Is traffic the same as, or better there than it is in, let's say, America, where traffic laws are stricter?
Not that I follow the logic, but yes I've been in many countries, none of which had better traffic laws than we do. But we have stricter traffic laws today than we did years ago. Does that mean we're better today than we were?
The truth is, that when society agrees upon and enforces standards, behavior overall is BETTER. That is not to say that in America no one speeds or runs stoplights, or even drives drunk, but to say that a country with legal and societal standards makes behavior WORSE, is nearly an absurdity.
When American culture expected sexual standards to be upheld, many, many people avoided bad behavior because of the shame of a society that, as a whole, agreed on those standards. That is not to say that adultery didn't exist, that sexual abuse of children didn't exist, that children engaging in oral sex didn't exist, that illegitimate births never happened, that rampant promiscuity in some individuals didn't exist, but to say that American sexual morality was WORSE in the 1950's than it is now, when many people think that absolutely nothing is wrong if you 'feel like it', is, frankly, ludicrous.
Well, no, some things were less moral today and some more so. We have stronger laws today on child sex, but that doesn't seem to indicate BETTER behavior. Back then, laws that trampled on privacy between consenting adults actually resulted in far more dangerous behavior, with some terrible outcomes. It wasn't any more moral than Islamic countries that have restrictive laws on women today. Restrictive sex laws don't always produce the desired result.