A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on November 21st, 2008 in Progressive Faith

In the wake of the passage of California’s Prop 8, the news broke that Black voters had voted for the measure, which prohibited same-sex marriages, by as much as 70%. In the wake of that bit of news, there has been no end to people who would minimize the effect this had on the election. Black voters, it would seem, are a powerful voting bloc when they vote for liberal causes, but when they vote the other way? Not so much.

That seems more than a little disrespectful to me. The math is pretty clear – Black voters are close to accounting for the entire margin of victory. Latino voters, by the way, more than account for the margin of victory. No one has really seemed to complain about anyone saying that Latinos voted against marriage equality, because it doesn’t fit the tragic storyline of Blacks coming out to vote for Barack Obama and then voting against what amounts to civil rights legislation.

This is not a post-election meme to try and spin the election results – despite the effort to paint such statements of fact as “a false and reactionary narrative”. Blacks overwhelmingly voted to ban gay marriage in California. That is simply true. And if you read the linked article very closely, you’ll find that there is an explanation for this. Voters didn’t vote against equality and civil rights – they voted against gay marriage.

The connection between Black voters’ desire to vote for Obama and tendency to vote against marriage equality was noted long before the election – by marriage equality activists. So, please, don’t tell me this is the conservative establishment trying to sow seeds of dissent in a liberal coalition. It’s a connection that was there for years. If Pew finds that 64% of Black Protestants and 79% of Black evangelicals oppose gay marriage; then why is it news that Blacks actually vote the way they say they will?

The problem, as I’ve said in several places, is that most Blacks do not view the issue in terms of civil rights. Opponents of gay marriage – like the Mormon Church and Knights of Columbus who spent millions making sure Prop 8 passed – have been careful to ensure it isn’t framed as one. Meanwhile, equality proponents have too often relied on emotional hooks – like an ad showing a bride walking down the aisle with the question: “What if you couldn’t marry the person you love?”

What irritates me the most is the apparent attitude that Blacks should support marriage equality because, well, we (liberals) supported their civil rights fights. First, no one owes anyone anything. Second, if you want a civil rights fight, then make it a civil rights fight. Don’t play on emotions. There are about a dozen ways that commercial could be done better (perhaps using Black actors?).

Prop 8 is a warning to Democrats. We’ve built an electoral coalition that leans heavily on Black and Latino voters – who tend to be more socially conservative than white Democratic voters. We are either going to have to moderate our positions, or we’ll have to invest in educating people of all colors about liberal values and how they connect to liberal policies. Because the connection isn’t naturally there.

Technorati Tags: Prop 8, Black voters

Sphere: Related Content