Study Suggests that Blacks did NOT support Prop 8 as strongly as previously thought...

When the whole prop 8 media BS came out, I was so tempted to write an angry blog criticizing the media's depiction of African American voters. Also, I was pissed off by how a few upset White gays treated some of their fellow gays who happened to be African-Americans (Some Black Gay and Lesbians reported being called the N-word by their White gay brothers and sisters). I was also baffled by the whole notion that "blacks were supposed to know better than this, because they know discrimination." Anybody who has taken a Race and Ethnicity course would know better. Now it seems that I do not need to say a single word about the situation. A new study suggests that the media greatly exaggerated the Black and Latino support for Proposition 8, basically when political ideology and religious affiliation were controlled, there was no real difference between Blacks and other groups concerning support for Proposition 8. Check out the article below...

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January 6, 2009
New study challenges black support for Proposition 8

A new study of voting patterns on Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that would outlaw same-sex marriage, concludes that African American support, reported by exit pollsters at 70 percent, was at least 10 percentage points lower.

The high reported support levels among black and Latino voters for the measure, which won voter approval but is now being challenged in court, led to post-election controversy and conclusions that non-white voters provided the margin of victory for Proposition 8.

The new study, commissioned by the San Francisco-based Evelyn and Walter Hass Jr. Fund and released by a consortium of gay rights groups, was conducted by two New York college researchers. It concludes that party affiliation, political ideology, frequency of attending church and age "were the driving forces behind the measure's passage" rather than ethnicity.

When voting results were adjusted for those factors, the researchers concluded, "support for Proposition 8 among African Americanss and Latinos was not significantly different than other groups." They put overall black support for Proposition 8 at "no more than 59 percent" rather than the 70 percent found in exist polls of voters.


"These figures point the way to winning marriage equality for same-sex couples sooner rather than later," said Jaime Grant, Ph.D., director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute. "Convincing the Republican Party that continued gay bashing will cripple its future is one; another is accelerating the already strong surge in support among young voters."

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/018318.html