Prop 8 & The African American Vote

I’ve been speculating about the story that 70% of African American voters in CA voted YES on Prop 8 and the vitriolic reaction from the white gay community. But considering how poorly the NO on 8 campaign was run and how angry the rhetoric from almost everywhere in CA, I chalked it up to the internalized homophobia and homophobia within African American churches and communities.

Turns out I was only partially right. Homophobia is a big deal in many black churches; those churches are very important to the communities, but there is also the fact that the NO on 8 campaign didn’t actively seek out black gays and lesbians, or communicate the need for their help, or even canvass their neighborhoods.

From what I’ve read and seen of interviews with black gays and lesbians, they tend to live in black communities, many close to extended families, most all feeling safer there. That's true of my friends here. Not many are found in the more white neighborhoods or the gay ghettos.

The other evening as I watched coverage of the protest outside the Mormon temple in CA, what I saw and heard almost made me sick. As a group of 4 or 5 black gay men arrived carrying protest signs in solidarity with the crowd, some whites began taunting and blaming them for the outcome of the vote. Using the ‘N’ word and yelling things requiring bleeps on the soundtrack.

I’ve also learned that black folks – gay or straight – don’t necessarily take to the idea of comparing the LGBT struggle for equal rights to that of the African American Civil Rights Movement. I can certainly see their point.

I talked with a friend in NYC yesterday and she assured me that this could never happen there. New Yorkers are stacked one atop the other and there’s no getting around that fact. LA, like most of CA is sprawling; New York City, not so much. Manhattanites get along to survive and thrive.

CA is used as an example here because that’s where the most damage was done by the vote. The other states didn’t involve those already legally married.

I don’t know how this is going to play out, but clearly the California LGBT community cannot afford to ignore, marginalize, or vilify anyone. In my opinion the NO on 8 campaign dropped the ball and it’s going to take a lot of fence mending, not finger pointing, to get back on track.

Bottom line is we as a community must be more inclusive or we will never reach our ultimate goal.

And so it goes.
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