Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Spread the Blame for Proposition 8 Passage

On Election Day, while racial barriers were falling and long-held political assumptions were being overturned, a majority of Californians voted to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in their state. In the following two weeks, the passage of Proposition 8 has sparked a number of large protests, including one held last Saturday in Washington, D.C., and has inspired heated debate over who exactly is responsible for the decision.

One statistic has been cited with particular frequency by political commentators: According to CNN exit poll results, 70 percent of black voters voted in favor of the ban on same-sex marriage. Pundits have been quick to point out the irony of such a high proportion of black voters rejecting this progressive position while overwhelmingly supporting President-elect Barack Obama, who opposed the proposition, in the presidential election.

The notion that black voters are largely to blame for the victory of Proposition 8, however, fails to reflect the realities and the nuances of the situation. First of all, the subsection of black voters comprised, at most, 10 percent of the Proposition 8 vote.

ore importantly, other groups were far more influential in supporting the measure; many media outlets, including The New York Times, point specifically to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Mormon Church’s decision in June to campaign for Proposition 8 resulted in, according to The Los Angeles Times, an estimated $20 million in donations to the cause by members of the church.

eanwhile, several other demographics made significant contributions to Proposition 8’s passage. For example, other traditionally conservative religious groups, such as Catholics and evangelical Christians, helped to form the 52 percent majority that voted in favor of the proposition.

Voters belonging to other ethnic and minority groups also helped push Proposition 8 over the edge. According to CNN exit polls, the white and Asian demographics were almost evenly split on the issue, both leaning only 1 percent against the proposition. Latino voters tended to favor the ban with 53 percent voting “yes.” All votes in favor of Proposition 8 from non-black voters add up to about nine times the total number of black votes in California.

Responsibility for California’s passage of Proposition 8, therefore, cannot be attributed to any single demographic. Instead, many people from many different backgrounds and associations – some of them overlapping – are responsible for California’s regrettable same-sex marriage ban. Tracing the success of Proposition 8 to the influence of black voters alone may seem like a sensible deduction, but is ultimately simplistic.

Voters from all groups must be examined in determining what went wrong with the campaign against Proposition 8. The fact that the proposition passed is a reflection on the enduring resistance to change present in every racial and religious group, every class of American society.

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