Black Voters, White Progressives & Prop 8
In all of the euphoria over Barack Obama’s election as the first African-American President, black voters have been cast as a vital part of the electorate that made his victory possible. There has been another story developing in the state of California, as black voters in the state, according to exit polls, voted 2-1 in favor of Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment which bans same-sex marriage reversing ruling made only months ago by the California Supreme Court in favor of same-sex marriage.
Black support for Proposition 8 highlights one of the many fault-lines in the alliance that swept Barack Obama into the White House. The rhetoric is being amped up as some are essentially blaming black voters-often thought as critical to a liberal or progressive voting bloc-for the revoking of same-sex marriage privileges. The rift between traditional black voters and white progressives comes at a critical juncture, as President-Elect Obama seeks the political footing for his agenda. Without a viable and visible progressive political bloc, Obama will have little choice but to govern from the political center.
Though black voters have historically been some of the most consistent members of a liberal voting bloc, they tend to be more conservative on social issues such as same-sex marriage. This was something that strategist Karl Rove understood as the Bush campaign used the shiny-ball that was same-sex marriage in the 2004 presidential to garner just enough support among black voters in a state like Ohio to turn the tide in favor of the incumbent. It was a lesson that those who sought to defeat Proposition 8 should have studied.
It is clear though that organizers did little outreach into black communities assuming that with a black presidential candidate that was supportive of same-sex marriage, (though more tepidly supportive of Proposition 8 during the campaign cycle), that black voters would fall in line. But black views on same sex-marriage are more complicated; simply reading black voters as inherently homophobic misses the complexity of an issue that, in black communities, is often tied to the absence of black men as husbands and fathers. Understood in that context, same-sex marriage goes against the belief of many within black communities that black survival is hopelessly tied to traditional marriage patterns. That said, the Black Clergy needs to be accountable for hateful rhetoric directed towards gays, lesbians and transgendered citizens (including a good many in their congregations) and for willful fear-mongering.
Ultimately, black voters are simply challenged by the realities of their everyday concerns and support of issues like same-sex marriage seem more like a diversion. This is a point that writer and activist Jasmyne A. Cannick recently made in the Los Angeles Times where she suggests that, “The first problem with Proposition 8 was the issue of marriage itself. The white gay community never successfully communicated to blacks why it should matter to us above everything else,” adding that, “the right to marry does nothing to address the problems faced by both black gays and black straights. Does someone who is homeless or suffering from HIV but has no healthcare, or newly out of prison and unemployed, really benefit from the right to marry someone of the same sex?” Cannick offers a compelling argument here, but the very possibilities that Obama’s election created need to force those of us on both sides of this debate to think more creatively and yes, more progressively, about the challenges that we face.
For black communities we need to get past our romantic ties to the traditional nuclear family and the thought that we can only raise productive children if both a man and women are present in a household. True, part of our investment in that familial model is the product of the stigma that had been historically attached to our cultural practices and indeed Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s famous critique of the black family suggested that we were doomed to stand outside of the American mainstream until we assumed a more traditional (less matriarchal) family structure. But too often black communities turn a blind-eye to the violence and upheaval some of our most damaged men bring to our households, simply because there is a man in the house. More to the point, Obama himself is evidence of models that don’t privilege the presence of father-figure per se, but rather the presence of many adults engaged in the lives of our children. Quite frankly, black children raised in a gay or lesbian household with engaged adult figures are likely better off than those raised in single-parent households or in heterosexual households where neither parent is up to the challenge of parenting. The point here is that we need to be more sophisticated about how family structures function.
On the other side of the spectrum, those white progressives who sought to defeat Proposition 8 would do well to be a little more self-critical of the privilege that undergirds some of their politics. Debates about same-sex marriage, however important they are, are debates that only a privileged few can really be engaged in. The struggle for them is to better align these debates with the material realities of the working poor and the working class, communities for which the time to protest anything is at a premium. University of Chicago political scientist Cathy Cohen has made such a point wondering aloud, for example, how Queer activists might engage the lives of women of color, who though heterosexual, have made sexual choices that “are not perceived as normal, moral, or worthy of state support?” It is incumbent upon white progressives to get better at finding common ground with black communities, beyond the dated liberal agenda that brought us together in the first place.
Barack Obama’s election, to cite James Brown, was a signal that it is a new day. It’s about time that our political organizing begins to reflect that reality.
Famous Gay African-Americans
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T – With 12+ paragraphs I thought you would shed more light on the subject. You did have some good info, but your thread sounded a little hateful and aimed at the wrong people.
“Right wing lies?” I think fear mongering fought and won the last political year. The right wing, and the other list you provided, doesn’t have to deflect anything when it comes to gay stuff. We already know where they stand. Plus, the column said black support is one more reason Prop 8 passed. You forgot the demographics of Cali. If Whites are 38%, and Blacks are 7%, what about the other 55% of the population? If Pres Obama got 8 mil votes and McCain got 5 mil, where is the “right wing” and “white church” you’re blaming, because 38% can’t win a yes or no vote? But yes, the gay folk need to holler at the remaining 62% for support with what they think is civil. Gay is not civil to me.
This whole thing about bigotry of the last eight years is some BS. Your boy already won, so move on. But then again, some of us need someone to blame. Until we ALL get smart, and figure out how things really work, we’ll be running in circles blaming the person in front of us.
These elections remind me of a few movie quotes… “Who’s naive Kate?” and “What I didn’t know until today… that it was Barzinni all along.” One day we’ll all get smart and find out that it was us – American People – all along. If a yoke is on your neck, in America, be smart and take it off.
This bears repeating since some people insist on fighting the phantom menace and not the true opponent.
I am upset about this erroneous finger pointing at African-Americans regarding Proposition 8. Why are you so quick to believe whatever you hear? If someone told me 70 percent of gay people voted against Obama my first thought would be, I don’t believe it! This political year was fraught with right wing lies. These right wing religious extremists are trying to deflect their responsibility for Proposition 8 to Black people and Black churches.Bear that in mind.
“Religious organizations that support Proposition 8 include the Roman Catholic Church], Knights of Columbus, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) a group of Evangelical Christians led by Jim Garlow and Miles McPherson, American Family Association, Focus on the Family[and the National Organization for Marriage Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, California’s largest, has also endorsed the measure. The Bishops of the California Catholic Conference released a statement supporting the proposition. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) has publicly supported the proposition and encouraged their membership to support it, by asking its members to donate money and volunteer time. The First Presidency of the church announced its support for Proposition 8 in a letter read in every congregation. Latter-day Saints have provided a significant source for financial donations in support of the proposition, both inside and outside the State of California. About 45% of out-of-state contributions to Protect Marriage.com has come from Utah, over three times more than any other state…
Still, even though gays were fighting to preserve a basic right, it was the nti-equality side in California that seemed to have the most fervor. A symbolic low point for the gay side came on Oct. 13, when the Sacramento Bee ran a remarkable story about Rick and Pam Patterson, a Mormon couple of modest means – he drives a 10-year-old Honda Civic, she raises their five boys – who had withdrawn $50,000 from their savings account and given it to the pro-8 campaign. “It was a decision we made very prayerfully,” Pam Patterson, 48, told the Bee’s Jennifer Garza. “Was it an easy decision? No. But it was a clear decision, one that had so much potential to benefit our children and their children.”
This is their real enemy. Don’t trust exit polls. I think they are pitting one group against the other. African-Americans are less than 7% of the state population, do the math. Many more Whites voted and they put this over, not Blacks. What are the total numbers of each group that voted. Someone dug into the data and found that we’re just now learning is that the exit poll was based on less than 2,300 people. If you take into account that blacks in California only make up about 6.2%, we get roughly 224 blacks who were polled. 224 blacks to blame an entire race! The truth is, I have heard that Prop 8 passed because of Republican support. 82% of Republicans admitted to supporting the proposition. They were not the ones who came out to vote for Obama. One blogger states that if you look at all the data, you’ll see numbers for first time voters. They rejected Prop 8 by a 62-38 margin. These first time voters were overwhelmingly for Obama, 83-17. Without Obama, Prop 8 would have passed by a much larger margin.
Blacks did not fund a tens of millions of dollars Proposition 8 campaign. Note that they also targeted affirmative action for eradication in another state.
I cannot believe that these larger groups who came out in droves to craft and fund this legislation get a pass and Blacks are being targeted for the blame game. There is no right wing black conspiracy against gay Americans. When you tried to align your struggle with that of Blacks you inherited their enemies. These same enemies are now trying to pit one against the other because they fear the combined numbers of both. Even if Blacks stayed home it would have passed because the extreme religious right and republicans would have raised the dead to get them to vote for it. They funded that campaign, not Blacks.
How many gay activists supported the civil rights movement in the 1960’s? Then how do you automatically expect support in return? Have you asked Blacks to support you or did you just assume?
Never trust exits polls because in all my years of life, no one has ever been seen at a polling place asking anyone anything when they left.
And the people have spoken. They have as much right not to want this as we did to want President Elect Obama. Fight this in the court of appeals and not the court of biased opinion by targeting Blacks for hatred and enmity.
The argument that this is analogous to slavery, interracial marriage, and the civil rights movement is insulting. Slavery renders people property without any rights. This is an argument for one right with the others intact. If you are not married no one can whip you, sell your children, or work you to death. Please revisit your history books. And as for it being comparable to interracial marriage battles, again erroneous. Obama is biracial. So are the majority of African Americans, who do now wish to go into the sordid details of how that happened. He is not a rare bird to us.
That is why we were so up in arms about miscegenation laws. Forced sexual relationships were condoned and loving ones were not. It was an affront and we wanted our women protected and respected.
Now let’s all unite and fight this bigotry that the last 8 years has fostered and supported. It has placed a yoke around all our necks, Black and Gay.
Picket at the church headquarters because that is where this all started. And do so with respect and dignity like Gandhi and MLK. I do not condone hate in any form but please recognize the difference between someone who does not agree with your lifestyle and someone who is actively seeking to deny you. Blacks are not actively working against you, that was the white church establishment with some black church support. You know who these churches are.
Attack the weakest links and you gain nothing. Storm the bastions of power.