Why We Lost Prop 8: When Reactive Politics Become Losing Politics

It pains me to describe it this way, but "No on 8" - like Michael Dukakis - blew a seventeen-point lead. Progressives were lulled into complacency by early poll numbers, and distracted by the Barack Obama campaign - even after it became apparent he would win.

But "No on 8" was also a reactive campaign that did not anticipate the opposition's arguments to sway swing voters. Bloggers were effective at pushing memes to define the opposition, but it failed to define much of the race. And "No on 8" did not push a simple and compelling message - "Obama Opposes Prop 8" - to the African-American community until the other side beat them to it, forcing them to play catch-up. This is no time for making excuses, or inspiring words that we're part of a greater struggle. Our right to marry just got taken away from us, and we've got to be smart if we're going to get it back.

I'll freely admit I was one of many progressives distracted by the presidential race and lulled into a false sense of security about Proposition 8. But in early October, after returning from a week in Wisconsin to help Obama, it became apparent that Barack was going to win by a landslide--and that Bay Area activists were wasting their time driving to Reno while there was important work to be done at home. New poll numbers on Prop 8 jolted me out of complacency (one could say I "reacted" to bad news), but my pleas about the presidential race fell on deaf ears. Somehow, progressives still shell-shocked from 2004 were afraid that simply believing Obama was going to win would "jinx" the outcome.

I heard a lot from marriage equality activists last night about "how far" we have come since the days of the Knight Initiative--Proposition 22, where 61% of California voters in March 2000 voted to add discrimination in the marriage code. But we forget how incredibly conservative that particular election's turnout was--and we simply don't have the same excuse for Prop 8's recent fate. California voters who narrowly supported Prop 8 also rejected the anti-choice Proposition 4 (despite it also being neck-and-neck in the polls), approved a bond for high-speed rail (Proposition 1A), and crushed Proposition 6 (the Runner Initiative) despite the state's general "law and order" reputation.

We need to face the fact that Prop 8 passed because a lot of liberal people voted for it--swing voters who should have known better, if only they had the right message.

These swing voters like to think of themselves as "tolerant." They believe they support gay rights, but are not always comfortable thinking much about the issue. They have a "live-and-let-live" approach, and don't appreciate any group of people indoctrinating their worldview on the rest of society. For a while, the "No on 8" message worked well with this crowd: it is morally wrong to have religious extremists impose their definition of marriage on the rest of society, singling out groups of people who don't apply and depriving them of a basic right. Telling them the Mormons were funneling $20 million into the Prop 8 campaign was an especially effective message for this group.

The problem happened when the Prop 8 campaign--through blatant lies and deceit--changed the subject into gays and lesbians imposing their agenda on our elementary school children. Suddenly, the people who were "indoctrinating" people who have a "live and let live" attitude was the homosexual agenda. It became apparent to me a few weeks ago when I was phone-banking for "No on 8." I spoke to a black woman in San Francisco's Western Addition who was dead-set against gay marriage now that she had been scared into believing we were imposing our lifestyle on her. And when people are afraid, it's hard to make them listen to facts--especially if they don't know you.

One of the basic lessons in activism is to not react to a problem when it comes up, but to be pro-active and frame the agenda. It's not like right-wing extremists haven't used the "gay marriage will be taught in our schools" line before, and the campaign should have been ready to anticipate such attacks. As far back as 1998, the first ballot proposition to ban marriage equality in Hawaii had a TV spot with a small child reading a book about two fathers--and he then gets confused. The message back then for swing voters was the same message California swing voters got now--"will my kids have to learn about it?"

Another basic rule is to anticipate what strategies the opposition will come up with to lure voters, and to preempt them with your own overtures. Gay marriage supporters were not happy that Barack Obama said he believes marriage is "between a man and a woman," but he rarely got credit for going further than any presidential candidate had gone before. He supports fully repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, and - more importantly - he came out against California's Proposition 8. Knowing that Obama was going to win the state comfortably, "No on 8" should have stressed Obama's opposition from Day One.

They did not, and it allowed the Prop 8 campaign to get African-American voters on their side by leading them to believe that Obama supports Prop 8. As I've written before, the black vote was critical in this race. Polls showing Prop 8 either ahead or behind hinged almost completely on whether African-Americans strongly supported it--or barely supported it. Aggressive overtures needed to be made to that community, and there was no better messenger in this election for this group of voters than Barack Obama.

Instead, "No on 8" waited until the other side made their own hit piece that implied an Obama endorsement of Prop 8. By then, we were being reactive.

Finally, I did go to the "No on 8" campaign office in the Castro as often as I could--but quickly became frustrated at what they were asking volunteers to do. I was happy talking on the phone with swing voters--which was useful and effective--but they seemed more interested in having us do visibility in San Francisco, going to strongly liberal (even gay) parts of town to make sure our base knew they had to vote "no." Rather than preaching to the choir, we were told this was useful because much of our base was confused--that some supporters think they're supposed to vote "yes" on Prop 8 to affirm gay marriage.

I don't doubt there were a few cases of gay people in San Francisco who were confused, and accidentally voted for Prop 8. But this appeared excessively anecdotal and reactive, when I was far more interested in being pro-active and effective in getting work done. Ironically, it turns out that a percentage of our opposition was equally confused--if not more so, which made the issue a wash. When I dropped "No on 8" literature in East Oakland, I ran into an African-American woman--who said she would vote "no" on Prop 8 because she "really didn't want" gay marriage being taught in public schools.

It is now 4:22 a.m. on Wednesday morning, and Prop 8 is still up 52-48 with 90% of precincts reporting. Now that discrimination has been enshrined in our Constitution, it will require another vote of the people to have it repealed. I don't doubt that with the state getting younger, future efforts at marriage equality will be successful. But I can't help believing we have seriously blown an opportunity in this election to give the right wing a stunning defeat--one that would forever leave them on the ash heap of history.

We need to start now to organize ... and this time, let's do it right.

Paul Hogarth is the Managing Editor of Beyond Chron, San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily, where this piece was first published.

Comments

[christopherstjohn]

One of the most common arguments made by supporters of Prop 8 was this one:

“Letting gay people marry devalues marriage.”

This is a curious assertion because usually, when more people want something, the value goes up. If gay people choose to make bourgeois choices, the existing bourgeoisie should be flattered. It means that what you have seems so valuable that people will spend years struggling for it, spend their limited dollars on it, go to jail for it. (“Give me Pottery Barn or give me death!”)

I think re-framing this discussion to explicitly counter the devaluation argument would be a key next step.

Christopher St. John
www.christopherstjohnblog.com

[Ocean girl]

Aloha, dunno... I guess my other post got lost....or flagged though it is perfectly relevant and respectful....

But as a Bi woman who had her child with a woman, I think the LBTGQ community is going at it all wrong.

Civil unions = civil rights. Everyone in a non-(supposedly) religious country (ie: separation of church (sic) and state) should have the same rights. It is the nomenclature that is getting everyone. If the LBTGQ community could let go of the attachment of the word "marriage" (which is a religious concept) and go for civil unions with all the federal rights afforded people unionized in the town hall then we have something achievable. For the other nomenclature ... deal with your own religious sect. I am buddhist and would have no trouble having a spiritual ceremony in my temple.

Let's keep things separate though. If people are too blind to see their duplicity in their religious traditions than that is something totally different than a country affording equal rights to all citizens.

If we approached the issue of "gay marriage" from the issue of civil rights, then I think we would have more luck. It is semantics only. I think... hey.. give the biggots their little comfort zone... get what you want... insurance, tax breaks etc.

But I am pretty practical and pragmatic.....

[Manbearpigisreal]

Stop trying to scapegoat Black people for the passage of prop 8. You need to look at your own race first!!!

Black people make up only about 6% of California’s population. Whites are 60% and Hispanics 35%. Our numbers are too small to be responsible for the passage of prop 8. Those are the facts! DEAL WITH IT.

Blaming black people is a sad and pathetic attempt to avoid looking in the mirror at your own community. Think about it, how many gay people have parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins that “disapprove” of their lifestyle? Work it out with them first. Blaming black people has always been the easy thing to do in this country, but you won’t get away with it this time!

Like it or not a lot of straight people of all colors just don’t believe that people are born gay. They view it as a choice (unlike skin color or sex). Until there is scientific proof of the “gay gene” there will be great difficulty in convincing people that this is a civil rights issue.

This is coming from a straight black man who happens to SUPORT gay marriage. I don’t live in Cali but if I did I would have voted no on prop 8. I have friends of all races and sexual orientations, unfortunately most people don’t.

[Speakupper]

"Knowing that Obama was going to win the state comfortably, "No on 8" should have stressed Obama's opposition from Day One."

I must admit, when I saw no on 8 tv commercials prominently featuring Barack Obama, I held my breath to see if they would be used as a weapon against him in red and swing states nationwide. Thanks to the chaotic mess that was the McCain campaign, they did not pick up on it. Had they done so, I believe they would have peeled off several votes in more socially conservative states and could have cost him some key state victories. Obama deserves credit for openly supporting NO on 8 in these ads with so much on the line.

In the meantime, may I suggest that we reject the Republican model of pointing the finger of blame and instead remember the power of diverse coalitions coming together to create change. If you opposed prop 8, regardless of race, sexual orientation, or the state you live in, stay connected to the organizations that are still working for change and help in any way you can. None of us are free until ALL of us are free...YES, WE STILL CAN!
http://ca-ripple-effect.blogspot.com/
http://www.noonprop8.com/

[yeswecancan]

I feel betrayed. I supported Barack Obama beginning in the fall of 2007 -- back in the days when African Americans whispered he wasn't "black" enough. I guess that bigotry should have foreshadowed the African American vote of 70% in favor of Prop 8 t(hat killed us). Latinos were more evenly split -- 53% for. Yes, the Mormons need to be taken to task for airlifting their Utah bucks into our state but I have to tell you the night after I wept with joy at Barack's revolutionary win I could barely stomach looking at AAs jumping up & down in the same churches that preached hatred against me. Don't African Americans know that in the 1960s miscegenation statutes prevented marriage between whites and blacks and were grounded in BIBLICAL rationale? That God had made white people and black people on separate continents and never the two should mix? For all those AAs arguing that this is not a civil rights issue -- your whole argument comes down to your belief that my orientation is a choice. But Ann Landers, God bless her, had the best retort to that: if it's a choice, why don't YOU choose to be gay for a week. You don't have to "act" on it, but just tell yourself you're going to flirt with members of the same sex and be attracted to them. Let me know how it turns out. In the meantime ... watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4u1OvVmnTk

[Speakupper]

Poignant video, Yeswecancan. I'd like to see a more specific call to action at the end, though. How do people who want to help in this fight get involved? Here are two links I found:

http://ca-ripple-effect.blogspot.com/
http://www.noonprop8.com/

Any other suggestions?

[thisfrightensme]

http://www.petitiononline.com/seg5130/petition.html

Sign this petition for marriage equality!

[chombo]

The No on 8 campaign was almost as badly run as the McCain/Palin campaign. An opportunity was truly missed here. It's also true that Blacks and Latinos overwhelmingly voted Yes on 8. I think the worst aspect of the marriage equality issue is the lack of courage on the part of politicians, Democratic politicians in particular. I'm not just talking about Obama here, but virtually every Democratic officeholder in California and around the country.

[TurnToTheLeft]

The No on Prop 8 leaders ran a wimpy self-serving, don't rock the boat campaign. Such luminaries as Jesse Jackson, Julien Bond and members of the Martin Luther King Jr. family support gay rights/gay marriage. On the international scene Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu support Gay Rights and Gay Marriage. Were they asked? NO! So, don't pin it on Obama who vocally supported us when asked his opinion.The campaign was smug, white, wimpy, and safe . Nevertheless, they scared me into giving the maximum amount I could. They gladly paid themselves and their consultants very good salaries. It was very frustrating watching this campaign sink and slip away. When I was very young we defeated the Briggs initiative in 1978 which would have banned Gay teachers - that was far more explosive considering it was 30 years ago. However, we ran a grass roots campaign targeted to every single county and union in California. There is blame to be assigned to the committee who played it all too safe. Yes the Catholic Church and The Mormon Church raised huge amounts of money - but we did not use our intelligence, energy and allies. Now that we have lost, I hope the pain will energize Gays under 35 who have lived a much easier life due to hard fought struggles before their time. Hopefully they will wake up and realize society at large has no problem assigning us as second class citizens. We must push forward with new vigor.

[gluvox12]

Why is this not on the front page of Huff Po? I think the Democratic leadership really dropped the ball on this. Huff Po barely covered this at all. 1 article for every 1000 Palin article it seems. Obama and Biden trash gay marriage in the televised debates. Obama, Biden, DNC and HuffPo are all complicit in the passing of Prop 8. For shame!

[GraceJeanJoness]

I couldn't agree with you more. People in this country have no backbone. For god's sake, what is wrong with always standing up for what is right?

Here's why Prop 8 failed: The California constitutional amendment banning gay marriage passed somewhat narrowly: 52% to 48%. Here's how the voting broke down:

White People: Voted AGAINST the amendment 55% to 45%.
Hispanics: Voted AGAINST the amendment 52% to 48%.
Black People: Voted FOR the amendment 70% to 30%.

Ironically, if Obama's run for the president hadn't inspired record shattering numbers of blacks to show up to vote, Prop 8 very likely would not have passed.

So my ecstatic feelings of joy upon hearing that Obama was elected president a few nights ago have certainly been completely tempered by the realization of exactly how ugly and mean spirited many people still are.

Jesse and Oprah, you can save your tears for the already married 18,000 gay and lesbian couples in California who now face further ugliness and discrimination. I would have thought you and your people would have known just how deeply such ugliness hurts.

Why people (huffpost included) are afraid to report on this is also leaves me very dismayed.

[TurnToTheLeft]

Payback is a real B*tch! The San Francisco Gay community has a dirty secret - racism. A few years ago, a popular bar in the Castro was asking Black and dark Latinos for multiple ID's and still refusing them entrance. The bar owner owns a majority of bars in the Castro. Rubbing salt in the wounds, 5 years ago he purchased the only bar which catered to a black clientele in the Castro. He then shut the doors for remodeling. 5 years later, the bar is still closed. A group of minorities and enlightened whites formed a protest group Castro for All. At first we made head way but the overbearing subtle racism of gays who migrated from the Midwest won out. I have lived in San Francisco since 1978 when Harvey Milk was alive and the promise of the day we would all be treated equal seemed like a palpable goal. However the Gay community in this "the mos liberal city in America" has back slid on this promise. I am Latino and we darker skinned minorities still feel unwelcome in our own neighborhood. can only hope that the loss of Prop 8 causes some deep introspection rather than hate. As a community we must evolve before we can change the opinion of the Black population. If we hadn't been so arrogant we would have been talking with local gay leaders and churches all along.

[TurnToTheLeft]

I AGREE! I keep looking and I don't see it. Gay people populate the ranks of the progressive left at levels which exceed our proportion of the main population. Even the Ariana's ex husband is an out gay. This is personal. We are not just a second class of citizens here to dress you, cut your hair and do your make-up. We are a significant base force on this site. All we ask for is the same basic Civil Rights!

[FJRinLA]

Please get the reporting straight.....

HISPANICS voted FOR Prop 8, not against it.

[ProudLiberalDan]

Considering Obama won Nevada, a swing state, by an astonishing 12-points -- TWELVE points, we probably could have used a little more of our progressive energy fighting Prop. 8 in California.

[Vern58]

We have to understand that the problem does not lie in bigotry itself- it lies in the infiltration of religious dogma into our government as a matter of policy. We must make ourselves available to work against the lie that America was founded on a religious principle- other than peoples freedom to practice whatever religion they want. This country was founded by Humanists and Skeptics, not bible thumping Christians. We must bear witness to this when we can.
We must persuade every LGBT person we know that the Closet is wrong- no matter what your circumstance. Until we all just simply come out of that Closet- we will get no place.
We have to curb our personal behavior. What we do in the privacy of our homes and personal existences are one thing. But the vast majority of America is not yet ready to look at this. Thy just are not yet. This is a difficult thing to swallow, but swallow we must. If we do not- we will remain marginalized.

[Vern58]

Please see below. Thanks.

[Vern58]

As a Gay man, out for nearly 30 years in every aspect of my life, i am going to say some things that may not be palatable to my brothers and sisters that they will not like and do not want to hear, but we need to listen to anyway.
We are ignoring the lessons history has given us. No amount of violent protest, of screaming about the bigotry we all know exists, is going to help matters at all. It will put us farther and farther away from our goal. It will only put us further in the marginal existence we have suffered for millenia. What will help us achieve our goal? Here are a few things i have found that will work.
We need to mainstream into the larger population. Through experience of living a ghettoized life, and living a life in the larger population has shown me that the more we take ourselves out of the Castro, WeHo,The Village, Boystown, Montrose, and any number of situations where we huddle together and ignore the rest of the population, the longer it will take us to achieve the things we want. If we want these things, we need to put ourselves as openly Gay folk in other situations that may not be as comfortable. I made this decision as part of a lifestyle shift that has in it's own quiet way, borne fruit. I have helped change peoples minds. .

[Vern58]

Believe me, i know how hard these things are to digest. But it is the truth. No amount of violent protest or screaming rhetoric will help. This will help. And as time goes on, and a new and more enlightened generation of young people come to positions of power and influence- we will get what we want. But right now- it is clearly not going to happen.
In my 29 years of living in the open, i have seen changes of light years come over the horizon. In 1979, we were far more on the outside than we are now. Believe me when i say i am a witness to this fact. And remember, equal rights is a progression of thought. Know we may not get the right to marry today- but we will in the future, if we choose to work with the wider population- we will.

[FJRinLA]

All agreed...I am a black man who voted for Prop 8.

I have many gay family members whom I'm not trying to change or convert. Still like most Blacks and Latinos, I am Christian and put gay marriage in the same category politically as Abortion: I wouldn't do it but I protect others' rights to do it.

Here the Pro-Prop 8 people spoke to my fear that my parental rights to teach my three sons about marriage and homosexuality at a time and place of my choosing were threatened. Honestly, I don't see any other reason for a textbook like KING&KING to exist if not to win kiddie hearts and minds. So my vote was simple and easy.

My boys will learn about homosexuality the same way I did, from loving gay aunts, uncles, and/or cousins at family gatherings and at an appropriate age....not from a textbook or activist gay teacher/principal. Fix that for me with an amendment that makes gay marriage legal while prohibiting those books or its teaching in public schools and you've got my vote all day long....that sounds easy but the truth is some gays want more; and they'll never get it from the Christian Left (Civil Rights Movement & Catholic Latinos), the Christian Right (REPS) or any society dominated by the three major religions.

[sjmaureen]

I have to say that I am just stunned to find out that Prop 8 was passed because the African-American and Hispanic comminties voted for it. teusday night my heart filled with joy at the election of Obama,I had worked hard to do my part to elect him. Hours later I find out that prop 8 passed, I cannot belive that these groups of people having known such discrimination would vote to include discrimination into our constitution. Gays have fought along side Blacks and hispanics for years. I feel numb...I was so happy for our country and the African- American community and now I feel pain that they have decided to actively participate in hatred against another minority group...my god I really do not understand why anyopne should have even been allowed to vote on this...hate pure and simple

[uheardme]

"Gays have fought along side Blacks and hispanics for years."

This is utter BS. Black gays, like Black straights, have fought for their rights.

Where was the white gay community when the Ban on AA passed?
Right, silent.

[losangelesmd]

For another perspective on why Proposition 8 passed, please read my blog on HuffPo today:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-cohan/premature-emancipation-a_b_141379.html

[Thurber]

Let's cut the BS. Prop 8 passed because of: 1. An African American community that is STILL rampantly homophobic (coupled with a lack of courageous defense from a certain Democrat running for President) and 2. Hate-mongering, lying, and literally blackmailing Mormons.

When good men do nothing, evil prevails. That's exactly what happened, nothing more, nothing less.

[FJRinLA]

That's your B.S. Thurber

I am for Prop 8 because I am a Christian, not because I am Black ("I am") or homophobic ("I'm not").

Obama couldn't change that. How do you think the members of his church in Chicago would have voted on Prop 8?

Do you think if Rev. Wright let Obama have the podium for a full 1-hour sermon against Prop 8 that he would have swayed that vote much?

If you do, then you have no idea how important Jesus and The Bible are to most Black people....Obama or NObama can't change that.

Still we are the Christian LEFT, not the Christian RIGHT and we have more tolerance and Christ-like love for all God's children which is why I support gay marriage. I just don't feel like I have the assurances in CA yet that my children wouldn't be taught it in their schools. Fix that and you got my vote......see how easy that was....no drama, no demonizing and no simplifying.

[xdevildawg4u]

Actually, Obama's (former) church in Chicago is a United Church of Christ, a denomination that passed a nation-wide resolution in 2005 supporting FULL legal and religious marriage equality. So you don't know how the people of Trinity UCC might feel about same-sex marriage.

It's really sad to see that you swallowed the lies of the Mormon Church (a church who, until 1978 taught that black people were descendents of the dark angels thrown out of heaven with "Jesus' brother" Lucifer). They denied black people the priesthood until 1978 when they got a new "revelation" but hey, we can trust them that this amendment was about teaching children about homosexuality in spite of the fact that every single teachers' and educational organization in CA said that such a claim was a lie.