ATTENTION GAY COMMUNITY: Stop Blaming Blacks for Passage of Prop 8

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By now, most of you have learned about California's Proposition 8. Why? Because the proposition passed on election day. In my opinion, and in the opinion of the gay community, the passage of this amendment was wrong. In short, this ballot amendment eliminates the right for gay and lesbian couples to marry in the State of California. Find out full details here.

In all honesty, I never expected Proposition 8 to pass. Not in open-minded California with its openly out and proud gay/lesbian community. But I was wrong and apparently so was the greater homosexual community. Perhaps this naivete or overconfidence is why I never saw any ads opposing Prop 8 until days before the election. And even then, the ads were small in number and limited in message (they never really said WHAT a "yes" on Prop 8 would mean and HOW their community would be impacted - leaving it to the supporters of Prop 8 to craft that particular message). Quite simply, the gay community failed to educate the greater public as to what the real-life ramifications of a "yes" vote on the measure would mean - discrimination written into the law.

After Prop 8 passed, a funny thing happened. The news media found it necessary to report not only how the measure passed, but also how blacks voted in favor of the measure by 70%. I remember when I first heard the news and this tidbit of information being reported. All I kept thinking was, "And they felt the need to point this out because.....?"

For days, every time the measure was discussed, the news outlet would throw out the "black vote" percentage. It was done so much that it appeared as if the MSM was attempting to create conflict where none existed. Perhaps to deflect attention away from the place where it properly belonged (say, the Mormon church)? Or maybe it was their way of saying (however unfounded), "Hey, even America's most oppressed minority group thinks homosexuality is wrong." Ironically, those same news outlets failed to report the high percentage of whites and other minorities who also voted in favor of the measure.

Sadly, some in the gay community responded to news of the "black vote for Prop 8" with racism and hostility. There also seemed to be this widespread sense of "entitlement" to the black vote.  News Flash:  Blacks are not a monolithic group. We are diverse in ideas and beliefs.  As such, the gay/lesbian community needed to persuade us to vote against Prop 8 in the same way that it needed to convince ALL Californians - an effort that they failed in miserably. The gay/lesbian community doesn't get instant agreement from us simply because we're another "minority" group.

It is about time that the gay/lesbian community takes responsibility for the failure of Prop 8 instead of scapegoating blacks for its passage. Speaking as a heterosexual black woman who opposed Prop 8, as did many of my black peers and family, the instant ability for some in the gay/lesbian community to react with HATE makes many of us wonder if we're only seen as equal by the white gay/lesbian community when we (1) know "our place," (2) hold the opinions and make the decisions that they think we should make, and (3) when it's convenient or to their benefit.