- Is this an indication of a climate where rights are not equal for all......
- Barbara Kay, African-Americans shouldn't feel guilty for voting against gay marriage
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In its editorial, "Backward Steps" November 6 The Globe and Mail editorial board scratched its collective head over the fact that in the U.S. election November 4, the three states that included a referendum on gay marriage - California, Arizona and Florida - all voted for Obama, yet shot down gay marriage. Assuming anyone who likes Obama must be a liberal on all issues, they wondered how people can be so enlightened as to elect a black president and yet be so not enlightened as to "reject" gays. (The Globe said gays "were made to feel rejected," although we anti-gay marriagists would argue that is unfair, for the rejection of gay marriage has nothing to do with rejecting gays as individuals.)
What particularly has the Globe reeling from shock is that 70 percent of blacks in California supported the gay marriage ban, while whites only narrowly opposed it. The Globe just can't believe that people who have known exclusion in society themselves can be so indifferent to the anguish of gays, and that a beautiful mind like Obama's can possibly speak so eloquently about black travails, and yet abandon "the one minority group against which it remains socially acceptable to discriminate."
Who supported Prop. 8?
So, who supported the traditional marriage initiative in California?
Black and Latino Obama voters, according to exit polls.
Here:
California’s black and Latino voters, who turned out in droves for Barack Obama, provided key support for a state ban on same-sex marriage. Christian, married and older voters also helped give the measure the winning edge, according to exit polls for The Associated Press.
Proposition 8 overturns a May California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay nuptials and rewrites the state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Exit poll data showed seven in 10 black voters and more than half of Latino voters backed the ballot initiative, while whites and Asians were split.
Though blacks and Latinos combined make up less than one-third of California’s electorate, their opposition to same-sex marriage appeared to tip the balance. Both groups decisively backed Obama regardless of their position on the initiative.
Obama has said he is not in favor of gay marriage but supports civil unions. The president-elect opposed Proposition 8.
Religious voters also were decisive in getting Proposition 8 passed. Of the seven in 10 voters who described themselves as Christian, two-thirds backed the initiative. Ninety percent of voters who said they had no religious affiliation opposed the measure, but they were a much smaller portion of the electorate.
Denise Fernandez, a 57-year-old African-American from Sacramento, said she voted for Obama but felt especially compelled to cast a ballot this year to support Proposition 8.
“I came out because of my religious beliefs. I believe a Christian is held accountable, and we have to make a difference,” Fernandez said.
Keep this in mind when you hear liberals ranting about the homophobic, intolerant California voters who oppose gay marriage.
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