Proposition 8 was the bill voted on by California voters over gay marriage. The bill, if passed, would ban gay marriage and nullify over 18,000 marriages in the state. The campaign for the bill turned nasty. Both sides raised over $35 million, the most ever for a single issue bill. In the end, about 52% of the population voted for Proposition 8, thus taking away the rights of gays in California.
What shocked me the most was which group was most responsible for the bill being passed. Was is the Whites? Nope. Latinos? Nope. The Religious community? Nope. They all voted about 50/50 on the bill. In fact, almost every group voted 50/50, except for African Americans. Over 70% of African Americans voted for the bill, thus swinging the pendulum against gay rights.
I find it awfully Ironic that just 40-50 years ago, the blacks were struggling for rights in America. They had to use separate facilities, restaurants, schools, and bathrooms. They were second class citizens. âSeparate but Equalâ was the slogan to justify this racist and nasty system. It took the African American community over 100 years to tear down these walls and be granted equality. Slowly, but surely, racism is dying in America. All races are free to be in the same places as Whites. Any person of any race, color, ethnicity, background, or religion can marry whomever they want. Because of heroes like Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, W.E.B. Du Bois, and thousands of others, minority groups have gained freedom.
Now, gays are fighting the same struggle. Millions of gays around the United States are not allowed to marry the person they love. They are treated like second class citizens. They have to worry about constant threats of violence, isolation of friends and family, and condemnation of religious groups. With the state of things, the gays might as well be labeled âSeparate but Equal.â
One would think that African Americans would sympathize with the gay rights movement. Both have been held back due to genetics. Both have been oppressed. Both have suffered violence, brutality, murder, and hatred. Yet it is now the African Americans who are shooting down gay rights.
African Americans who were interviewed on the topic were seen wearing âObamaâ shirts, hats, or other gear. They supported Obama all the way. Yet when it came to gay rights, a supposed Liberal issue, they were violently opposed. Many interviewees were getting upset at the slightest thought of allowing gays to marry. When asked the difference between the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Rights Movement, they usually responded with something like, âItâs just differentâ or âItâs not natural.â 50 years ago, it was ânot naturalâ for blacks to have rights in America. So how are gay rights any different?
There is no logic, justification, or sense in voting for Proposition 8, especially in the African American community. They went through the same oppression, and are now the oppressors. I am assuming I will be labeled a racist for writing this. That is okay. I am not a racist. I just seek the truth in the issues. And the truth is that the people who were formerly oppressed, are now the oppressors.
(NOTE: I know not all African-Americanâs voted for proposition 8, so don't think I'm blaming the entire group. I am only blaming those who voted for the bill. I also know that everyone who voted for the bill is to blame for the intolerance. But this is just to point out the hypocrisy on the African American vote).
They went through the same oppression, and are now the oppressors. I am assuming I will be labeled a racist for writing this
This is definitely an incendiary approach. The statistician in me also says it is a misleading approach but I'll not harp on that- I would love to know what demographic confounds there are in play here. This includes religious affiliation and socioeconomic status.
I happen to say this because at least anecdotally it makes perfect sense to me that, on a population basis, African-Americans (and Africans in general) are anti-homosexual. This is merely a cultural thing.
What shocked me the most was which group was most responsible for the bill being passed.
Not me. Ignorance comes in every color. Plus the ignorant love stupid laws that only effect other people. Honestly, who cares about the voting demographic anyway? You don't automatically have to care about other minorities just because you are a minority yourself.
Black people should be allowed to vote against gay marraige..
What you're saying is that because of some hardship that they have to agree with other peoples hardships.
I believe in Gay civil unions but I agree with the christian church that they should be allowed to keep marraige between a man and a woman.That is what they believe in and for gay people to force them to do so is just not right...Let them do it of their own free will.
Black people probably had a very small swing in votes...After all they were a minority...you should be complaining that whites took 50 percent because then that would have been a major swing towards non gay marraige.
First off, I agree with windshift, Blacks shouldn't have to vote a certain way because they were oppressed. They might feel one way about freedoms, and another way about the definition of marriage. You have to keep in mind that most Blacks are very religious.
I voted yes on prop 8, but not because I don't want homosexuals to marry (I'm all for it, who am I to stop someone from doing what they wanted and getting the joy of being able to say I am getting married) But I voted yes because I would prefer them not to raise children together. Two men, or two women do not naturally produce children, and therefore should not raise children. A child needs both a male and female in the household to grow properly as a person. Also children would be picked on, and its inevitable that they develope complexes, issues, and have homosexual tendencies as well, and I don't think that we should promote and encourage something such as homosexuality in our society when it is an unnatural chemical imbalance.
Yes there are people who are homosexual already, and fine, thats great allow them to live and be happy like anyone else, but there is no reason to change the basis of our society for a minority with what some might call a disorder.
So for me to vote no, I think we would need to amend adoption laws. I think people who are not a male and female married couple should not be able to adopt. Because logically those are the types of people that would produce kids, and raise them in a healthy manner.
I support gay marriage, but I don't support them raising kids. I think the amendments to the California constitution need a little more work before I vote for them.
There still is no real study that actually shows that a kid would be changed by being raised by a homosexual would be any different than a heterosexual, and the statement that there is a difference is obvious but the fact that the child would be less happy is probably not true.
I would vote yes on Prop 8, and then suggest a Initiative to your senator or governor. Depeneding if you want it to be a national or state issue.
If race is involved? I laugh to this. Race has no Dominant stature in common political processes any more. What you lean more to is Indeverence or Opinion, which is like to say white persons vote Republican because they are racist(which is a possibility but not a dominant judgement in their choice either).
In other words I highly doubt the main reason they voted yes is because of suppressing or rights as much as another reason such as they'd rather not like to see the affects of gay marriage on OTHERS in the community.
There were two boys brought up by two lesbians and they are perfectly healthy..Not gay at all...But then again Flipski is also right in saying that they might be teased and they may feel pressure to become gay by their parents..I know the parents wouldnt force them but if you were gay and you see your parents being hetrosexual then you feel bad about being gay...The same could be said for being hetrosexual with gay parents.
I am very mad at your comment thelistman. I'm white and 12, but I don't think you should slander on different races about who voted gay or not! My uncle is gay, and I have 3 known aunts that are lesbian, and I support this right because love should flourish between anyone who truly loves each other, but blaming this on a race is childish, and I should know, im 12! This may be fact about the 70% thing, but it doesn't matter, people have their own opinions, and yeah I agree gay rights are struggling, African-Americans had it worse, I don't think you should slander on races or sexes/marrages, but still!
Renegade, all Thelistman did was state the facts and statistics about prop 8. He didn't post anything about his own personal opinion about homosexual rights. And as much as I want to disagree with Flipski about adopting, I'd have to agree.
It's true, when that adopted child goes to middle school and high school, and word leaks out that he's a child of a homosexual family, it will be a world of pain for him, in the sense of harassing. I've noticed this behavior, lemme tell you. College, it's not so bad, since the whole deal of maturity and all, but in the teen years, it was a pretty horrible deal to witness.
Hmm, somehow this issue reminds me of the one about foreigners in the US. Since all Americans (except the native Americans) have roots in Europe and Asia, then why do they - hate foreigners so badly... Oh well, I know. We are human... That is the main reason for most trouble.
I don't understand it either. But it's not just the US, it's in Japan too. Japan only likes Americans (and you know why), plus some other countries that they have close ties with. But all other countries, especially Koreans, they ridicule. I have to watch this nonsense too, by the way. I'm going to say that comedy in general makes light jokes about them, then others that are ignorant enough to believe in all of it takes it as the truth and takes the situation from there.
Like Denmark and Sweden. Oh, and Germany. But mostly Sweden. A victory in soccer is somehow better, if it is either Sweden or Norway being beaten... No, I do not get my own - people... I might have seen too much pokemon... "It's the same world, the same air we breath. Maybe we should stop using or energy at pointing out how we are different, and instead see the things we have in common" Or something.
whoa, ya know what's hilarious and exxxtremely ignorant on my part? I thought preposition 8 was for the allowance of gay marriage. . .I'll have to tell my friend to stay away from cali. for a while =P
It's true, when that adopted child goes to middle school and high school, and word leaks out that he's a child of a homosexual family, it will be a world of pain for him
Like it was for the children of the first mixed race children. Were the racists right when they said the children were abominations? Should the parents not have had children because of the harrassment the children went through?
Two men, or two women do not naturally produce children, and therefore should not raise children.
Sterile men and woman should not be able to adopt since they can not have children.
A child needs both a male and female in the household to grow properly as a person
All children of one parent households should be shunned as they are malformed people.
Also children would be picked on, and its inevitable that they develope complexes, issues, and have homosexual tendencies as well,
Only child of homosexual parents get picked on. And of course gay parents make gay children like straight parents make straight children.
and I don't think that we should promote and encourage something such as homosexuality in our society when it is an unnatural chemical imbalance.
Just give the homos some lithium and it's fixed. Like bi-polar or any other mentally ill person with a chemical imbalance.
but there is no reason to change the basis of our society for a minority with what some might call a disorder.
Who cares that homosexuality is no longer called a mental illness. We all know it's a disorder that needs to be fixed. And god forbid they infect the innocent children.
I think people who are not a male and female married couple should not be able to adopt. Because logically those are the types of people that would produce kids, and raise them in a healthy manner.
Foster homes are good for kids. Gives them character. And if they never find a real home, as so many of them never do, who cares if they become criminals or get knocked up at sixteen. As long they aren't gay. The worst thing they could turn out to be. Sexual and physical abuse never happen in straight homes with a good christian mother and father.
I so try to be polite but I'm still so angry and hurt over this issue that I don't think I can be polite anymore. It sucks having people say you're unfit to be a parent or you're got something wrong with you or you aren't quite good enough to have the same rights as your neighbors. Straights can be terrible parents and pop out kids at sixteen and nobody cares. They can beat their kids and hurt then and nobody cares. They can get divorce and remarried numerous times and nobody cares. But a gay person asks to get married and adopt unwanted children and people go nuts. Logic? I see none.
