Stop Blaming California's Black Voters for Prop 8

Excuse me? I voted against Proposition 8. I'm among the 30 percent of black Californians that did so. And as much as I can condemn the homophobia and intolerance that drove a portion of the 70 percent of blacks that voted in favor of Proposition 8's ban on gay marriage, it's an outrage to lay its passage at their feet. I've read several editorials already about how the ungrateful blacks betrayed gays right after America gave them their first president. I know there are some wounds and frayed nerves right now, but this type of condescending, divide and conquer isn't going to help at all. And it's a gross oversimplification of what happened.

According to the exit polling, there's enough blame to go around. Don't forget the 49 percent of Asians who voted for Prop 8. And the 53 percent of Latinos who fell in line for it too. And then there is the white vote in support of 8. Slightly under 50% percent of them, a group representing 63% of California voters, voted "Yes" on 8. Last I checked blacks held little sway over all of those groups.

So who did? For starters, the churches, religious leaders and advocacy groups in support of 8 were a very formidable force. Surveys showed religion played a major role in voter's decisions. Even No on 8 supporters have admitted that their camp was too complacent, arrogant and far to unorganized. I told a friend the day after the election, that I thought the arguments needed to be much stronger to answer the lingering questions Prop 8 boosters had leveled, disingenuously or not. Even I had some personal misgivings before casting my vote against.

Perhaps gay rights activists needed to better explain how a No vote wouldn't force churches to perform gay marriage ceremonies. And how a No vote wouldn't affect schools or teach children about gay marriage. Maybe deeper outreach in the black and brown communities could have changed some minds. What about fostering a stronger dialogue beyond the good side of town and in the neighborhoods where some of the unfortunate prejudice takes root?

No on 8 also needed a better defense against Obama's own stance on gay marriage. He is on record as wanting to allow the states to decide, even though he still supported full rights for same sex couples under civil unions. It's clear that anybody hoping to get elected this year needed a position that was generally acceptable to the red states. And Obama came out strongly against 8. But those nuances could have been much better explained to those who might be excused to follow suit with Obama's somewhat loose position. The anti-Prop 8 forces couldn't just rest on the hope that entrenched and arcane beliefs would be washed away without both a robust defense and offense.

In the coming weeks, those of us who are standing against Proposition 8 -- including, I'm sure, millions of blacks nationwide -- are all going to need unity as we lobby, fight and advocate for either a reversal of this amendment or a new battle in 2010. There are very valid arguments against the presumptuous collapsing of Obama's win and the results of the Prop 8 vote, but we can table that for now. Regardless of your position, making scapegoats of blacks as a bunch of thankless homophobes is hardly playing the best hand.

This also appeared on my blog.

Update: Check this open letter from Kathryn Kolbert, President of the People For the American Way Foundation

Update: Please also check this recent post on Daily Kos addressing facts and figures about the vote on Prop 8

Follow Raymond Leon Roker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/raymondroker

Comments

[christopherstjohn]

Prop 8 is the perfect case study for taxing churches. If you want to be a player in politics, that is your right. And if you're going to act like a Political Action Committee, you should be treated like one.

That means no more tax-free status. And an end to government handouts and the extraordinary boondoggle that goes by the name, "Faith-based initiatives."

Christopher St. John
christophe­rstjohnblo­g.com

[frenchrn]

I am a heterosexual female hispanic residing in california.I will never understand how any minority can vote to strip the rights of another individual. if it was not for the minorities that came before them and fought against discrimination and for civil rights, they would not be as comfortable in society as they are now. The minorities would not even be welcome in the camp of the white americans if not for the minorities that came before them. The minorities are only tolerated because the white voters need their vote. This win for prop 8 supporters only gives power to these intolerant people. When they feel they have power they may just begin to focus on the very minorities who helped them. I sure hope if you are a minority that you are never ganged up on and stripped of any freedoms you enjoy. And when society begins to go backwards like this, anything is possible.......

[kevinlangendorf]

blame is being placed with the black community, because that is exactly where it belongs. Pulling up the ladder when you've climbed a little higher is very common. Not all black people voted for it, but they did by a 70-30% margin...it makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it. We gays really are the untouchables in this country, and I for one am beyond fed up, beyond disapointed. There are other places to live where one isn't made to feel like pond scum for just existing, so babies, time to pack it up and go to one of them.

[frenchrn]

I agree with you completely. I am a heterosexual hispanic female residing in california. The minorities can not even think about making this a better place for their kids There is still discrimination in this country. They should try go living in a part of the country in a state known for being racist , in an all white neighborhood and see what kind of welcome they get. They will most certainly get a reality check. I just do not know how they think. I live very close to the Mexican border and you still here people telling the hispanics to go back to their country, and they say it in a very durogatory way. They still want to close the border so my kind can not come over here anymore. I am just so baffled, I can not imagine what they were thinking. California is a very tolerant state, I just don't know how this could have happened.. I am very frustrated with this outcome of prop 8.

[basjoo2000]

That's exactly right. The hypocrisy of the African American community is sickening, but I can only suspect that religion is to blame. To argue that the African American vote would not have been enough to make a difference on Prop 8 is to not hold the 70% of that community accountable for their decision to stomp on the civil rights of another minority group. California voters elected Obama by an overwhelming majority and yet these same voters still passed Prop 8 while celebrating the watershed moment of electing the first African American president. I'm disgusted. The rights of a minority should never be determined in a vote by the majority.

[sidittygal]

The problem is gay people just expected that black people would be on their side because of the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement, as well as the black community was and is based in religion, which tends to be anti-gay. To be honest the "mainstream" gay community did little if any to reach out to black voters like the religious groups did.

I can't compare interracial marriage or civil rights to gay rights. The gay community is made up of white men and white women who benefit from white privilege, and I am not saying this is right, but they have the privilege of choosing whether or not to disclose their sexuality to the world. My skin gives away my blackness. It isn't a choice I can choose to disclose or not. Gay people were never enslaved or suffered from Jim Crow laws.

It was said that in many of the protest rallies after election day many black gays felt threatened by their own white gay counterparts, which makes me think, that the gay community fails to reach out to their minority brethren.

Religion is the main cause of why Prop. 8 passed, not race.

With all that being said,I was against Prop. 8, and do believe gay people should have the right to legally marry, but I also find it insulting that blacks are expected to vote in favor of "gay rights" and liken their struggle to ours.

[mikey683]

No one in the Gay community needs to do any "outreach". Civil rights are just that...rights!

We don't need to beg anyone for the rights we are entitled to. As a gay man I don't need your understanding and I don't care what your opinion is. I don't remember anyone asking me my opinion about your rights.

I'm ashamed today to be a Californian and I'm ashamed to be an American.

[sidittygal]

I would believe you shouldn't have to beg for rights you are entitled to as an American citizen, but blacks had to protest, get arrested, and die for our civil rights.

Mikey to be honest it seems you wouldn't care about my rights anyway, in your mind they don't affect you, and in your mind the gay world I guess is all white and all those blacks, asians, and hispanics in your community are insignificant and their struggles outside of being gay have nothing to do with you.

[dct1999]

It's time for gay people to force their leadership to take responsibility for the rcism within their ranks and within their major organizations. Until they do they have no moral standing to lecture black people on intolerance.

[Rmac1961]

Makes sense.... and since it seems that there is massive evidence of homophobia in the African American community then no one in that community has the moral standing to lecture anyone else on intolerance.

[sidittygal]

Wow I love how being black and being gay are two separate things within the minds of many gay people. That really is sad to me. Last I checked, you could be gay and black.

[dct1999]

Thank you for this long overdue blog.

[LollieDotCom]

http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pdfs/mildred_loving-statement.pdf

Mildred Loving's statement about freedom to marry. Everyone should read it. If you don't cry when you read it, you're not a human being. Please use your favorite social sites to buzz it up.

There is only one cure for ignorance - and that's education.

http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pdfs/mildred_loving-statement.pdf

[libertyanne]

I agree not all blacks should be blamed for this disaster passing. However, Equality is ACROSS THE BOARD. It doesn't change with each group in question. There were many gays who fought in the civil rights era aginst segregation. Granted most were still in the closet but they risked their lives just the same.

[sidittygal]

Much like many blacks did fight and support gay rights. It is a two way street.

[JohnBryansFontaine]

The fact that some disgruntled gay marriage militants are now using the 'N' word is making their cause even more popular....

[Audreyce]

It is curious to read some of the stuff here much of which ironically appears to betray what comes across as long held resentments & negative stereotypes of blacks by what I imagine to be white gays expressing­/validatin­g their perceived "betrayal."
I live in the Bay Area & this 70% black vote thing is simply bogus! This very suspect poll was courtesy of A.P whose very right leaning biases were exposed this election cycle!
The pervasive condescending rhetoric spewed by many here actually exposes much disdain for blacks that clearly precedes prop 8.
Mormons/Catholics, the actual benefactors of this initiative - Outrage? MIA!
To hear many here tell it, one would think that white & gay: mutually exclusive. A lot of black gay people in San Francisco complain bitterly of the discrimination & exclusion they suffer within the gay community & this couldn't be more supported than what has ensued since prop 8 passed.
Blacks including those who worked against this proposition, have been subjected to some of the vilest stuff.
Ironically, this has only served to bolster the argument many continue to make about the analogous use of the racial experience -
Try as they may it seems, they cannot hide their blackness as evidenced by the fact that many non-black mormons, catholics etc. who actually sponsored & voted for this initiative in larger numbers can continue about their business unharassed & in complete anonimity - Unless of course they are waylaid on their way out of their specifically

[bobapsu]

African Americans and Hispanic Americans, as demographic groups, threw gay people under the bus in the privacy of their hate-filled voting booths. You know it, I know, we all know it.

[goodtomeetyou]

You don't speak for everyone. Speak for yourself.

[POINT84]

yes, as a demographic. But it has more to do with religion than race, geez whats wrong with people. Can i say the case against was never made either? Most people who think of gay rights simply brush it off as sexual preference.

[frenchrn]

What were they thinking? i am a hispanic heterosexual female living in california. They just helped to set us back. If they found it so hard to support the cause I wish they would have just not voted. our kids have to live here. Intolerance can not be allowed to grow here.

[McDi]

Dear Bloggers,

PLEASE, stop calling Black people homophobes and Gay people racists.

Gays and lesbians come in all colors and religions and are discriminated against by the same. This whole argument divides and weakens us. It plays into the ‘Yes on 8’ campaign beautifully. If we can’t get along and get past this, we stand to lose much more.

PLEASE, keep your eyes on the prize!

We cannot assume living in a liberal state means we all agree. If that were true, we wouldn't need a constitution. But we do need one; and ours just suffered a tremendous blow by Prop8—which is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and illegal. It’s tragic; it should not have happened; it‘s a huge, menacing step backward; and it must be fought.

PLEASE, don’t digress into blame games and defensiveness--NOT if you care about equality.

Why not analyze the demographic results? We should welcome insight into where we succeeded and failed. But, the important lesson of any campaign analysis is not "who can we blame?” Rather it is "where do we need to do more work, more education, more outreach?"

PLEASE, stop blaming the electorate. Just as a business should never insult the consumer; a campaign should never insult the electorate.

Let’s pull together. We lost this battle, but the fight goes on. We have work to do.

“Never believe that a group of committed citizens cannot change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead

[Smith808]

I'm getting so many mixed messages as to how approach trust building between the LGBT and black evangelical community. I hear..."Protest against the real villains - the Mormons, but reach out to the black churches." But, aren't ALL supporters of marriage equality justified in marching to these churches, too? Or, is it racist to "bring all that drama" home? Is the issue of marriage equality really better understood by the latter?
Isn't it also the black community's responsibility to reach out to its own LGBT members? Or, has its treatment toward its own gay brothers and sisters shown the rest of us we are not welcomed, ESPECIALLY if we're not black.
Do gays and lesbians have to show proof of victimization and violence to "earn" the 70%? Here's a little teaser to brighten your mood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_LGBT_people
Is the disparity in civil rights not enough? Is the tragedy and stigma of AIDS not enough? And hasn't AIDS outreach and funding, pushed forward by LGBT's, been one of the most powerful forms of outreach beyond our own community.­..especial­ly in to those that would otherwise ignore or ostracize its own victims?
Where are we supposed to come together? Should it be in the churches or the courts?

[jlamb]

70% was the worst performance of any ethnic group. It is time for african americans to take some responsibility for this great moral faliure from the vast majority and mainstream of their community.

[Leper]

I'm not blaming the black Californians for the passage of Prop. 8, but 70% from a group that knows first hand about discrimination... sorry, there is no excuse for that.

You can look at the white people (less than 50% by your admission) or the asians (at 49%) and even the latino community (at 53%). At least, near half of the people in these groups are more concerned about civil rights than 70% of black Californians.

It's not about blame. It's about hypocrisy. I understand it's a bitter pill for you to swallow... I understand your defensive posture... but you've got to own this. You've got to go out to these areas and get them to see the error of their ways. You've got to do this because the 70% reflects badly upon you and all of your crying "it's not my fault" falls on deaf ears. YOU'VE got to do this because they're not going to listen to a white-bread-boy like me.

[Chavie]

This argument ignores that 53% of latinos is more votes than AA's b/c they are a larger percentage of the vote.

I am actually doubtful that this amendment will ever happen now based upon all of the comments here. I just don't know...

[basjoo2000]

I agree. It's absolutely the hypocrisy of the African American community that gay community is outraged over. The Mormons and other conservative Christian groups certainly played a much bigger role in supporting Prop 8, but we never expected anything different from them and they didn't vote for Obama. It's the fact that close to 100% of this community supported Obama and celebrated his election as a triumph in their struggle for civil rights while simultaneously voting to rip away the civil rights of another minority group.

[sidittygal]

Why is "gays" voting for Obama a favor for black people. You didn't do black people a favor for voting for Obama, you basically voted the lesser of two evils. Obama at least did outreach to the gay community, he made you feel as if your issues could be heard, McCain failed to do that. Do not make it seem whites or any other race did black people a favor for putting their political stances before race, you should have been doing that anyway.

These comments to me show that white people and other minorities have no idea of the level of racism that still continues to this day.