Exit polling suggests that California's African-American voters voted "Yes" on anti-gay ballot initiative Proposition 8 by a heartmelting 70%. Their disproportionate support of the measure was likely the deciding factor in nullifying the marriages of thousands of gay Californians. I've been too ecstatic all day to get appropriately riled about this, but with the buzz fading I'm at the point now where I'm not even reconsidering my borderline inflammatory post title.
I'm not alone. Dan Savage has these choice words on the matter:
On a related point, JoeMyGod has done some Wednesday Morning Quarterbacking about No on 8's ad efforts that I'm inclined to agree with:
I’m not sure what to do with this. I’m thrilled that we’ve just elected our first African-American president. I wept last night. I wept reading the papers this morning. But I can’t help but feeling hurt that the love and support aren’t mutual. I do know this, though: I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.
Finally, I’m searching for some exit poll data from California. I’ll eat my shorts if gay and lesbian voters went for McCain at anything approaching the rate that black voters went for Prop 8.
Maybe the No On 8 side just tippy-toed too fucking gingerly around outright attacks against the religious right, for fear of appearing to attack religion in general. Most of the No On 8 ads (especially the early ones) were weak soap operas - silly, trifling, soft-selling of basic human rights that didn't even have ACTUAL GAY PEOPLE in them. We should have been screaming bloody murder from the very start.The silver lining in this shit cloud is the fact that as president, and as a role model of a whole new order for black Americans, Barack Obama--although definitely an overcautious triangulator on the issue of gay marriage--at least has the potential to be a real leader on the issue of African-American homophobia. His little shout-out to teh gays last night was a good start.
Only that Mormon Home Invasion ad had the proper tenor....and that one came from the Courage Campaign, not No On 8. When the Mormon millions began to flow, what we should have done is point out the outrageous hypocrisy of a church that is mostly known for its historical affinity for racism and polygamy DARING to tell other people how to live. My ad would have started with, "This is Mormon founder Joseph Smith. And this is his wife. And so is this. And so is THIS. And so is THIS....." Smith's 33 or so wives would have fleshed out a 30-second clip very nicely.
(UPDATE: This post's tone of mock-indignation has been exposed as ill-considered by recent events in gay racism.)
This sucks, this sucks so much. I hope this shit goes to the Supreme Court. I was more concerned about Prop 8 than I was the presidency, and it looks like I had reason to be. :(
Maybe I'm reading the data wrong but I think my original statement still holds: that, according to exit polls, roughly 70% of black voters voted for Proposition 8. The final combined result for all voters stands at 52%.
Right?
ugh.. I mis-read that.. I gotcha, 70% african-american voters. I'm silly. Just delete my comments from moderation if I'm wrong. ;) LOL -- I'll stop spamming your comments now. But hey, higher numbers on comment counts are never bad, eh?
Yes! Like all graphomaniac blogger narcissists, I live for comments.
its a very sas day for the gay population
Wanda Sykes has a pretty funny and accurate take on this. At the prop 8 rally/protest they brought up the race statistics and it was NOT popular [boos hissing, dont' fight hate with hate] but when they laid into the mormons it was all smiles and cheers. I think the issue needs to be addressed and confronted, so that in the future the figure won't be so crazy high.
Let's try not to go there! Remember that Obama himself doesn't (yet) support gay marriage... It's a real disappointment that Prop 8 didn't pass, but we are too smart and compassionate and progressive to resort to placing blame via race lines!
I've long thought that the gay marriage battle has been misguided..... I THINK we should be more concerned with dismantling the sanctity of marriage and fighting for marriage reform, rather than trying to get the gays into The Club.
I'm not blaming the black community for prop 8 passing. There were all sorts of voters from every background that voted yes. But the cold fact of a 70/30 divide says something to me
bobo are we really trying to go down this road?
Bmad, is that "concern" I hear in your tone?
Honestly with the exception of the admittedly offensive us vs. them construction of the title, I haven't really said anything here except the--by now widely reported--fact that blacks supported Prop 8 by a significant margin. (Asians voted yes 48%, whites 49, latinos somewhere in the low 50s.)
It goes without saying that at least as far as Prop 8 is concerned, our real enemy is white people. In fact, The Whitest People Ever: Mormons.
I guess it is CONCERN, bobo! the title and the picture is a little INCENDIARY, don't you think? Come on. You know this isn't fair; I don't I need to explain why. And much as I sometimes love Dan Savage, these days he's reminding me of a bourgie, cloistered oversexed grandma with his shrill, half-baked identity politics.
I DO think it's okay to hate Mormons now though, because the Mormon Church actually organized and poured money into passing prop 8. Therefore if you gave money to the Mormon Church, you bear some personal responsibility for this. The same can obviously not be said for black voters who are, you know, individual people with no central organizing body. (Much like gays, of whom a whopping 27% voted for John McCain! Call it the faggy pig demographic...)
That stock image was used by the "Yes on 8" campaign to represent the menace to families posed by gay marriage, and was not pulled randomly out of the ether. Admittedly, it's not like you or anyone would know that on the basis of the post.
The title was intended as a bit of hysterical-homo mock outrage, and I tried to leaven it by pointing out its questionableness within the post. (not a word)
Your idea that people can't be "blamed" for how they vote is kind of absurd (somehow I doubt you'd be reacting this way if I were griping at OLD PEOPLE for how they vote)...but then, as you point out, so is the whole idea of railing against a demographic, especially one that overlaps, crisscrosses, and includes our own. There is no "us" and "them" here...unless we're talking about "Mormons" and "Non-Mormons."
Bottom line, though: the actual content of this post still boils down to nothing more than: "Black people supported homophobic legislation at a significantly higher rate than most other groups: discuss." Is that really your idea of "incendiary?"