So this morning while sleepily sifting through news articles online, I came across this piece which speaks on the notion that the huge outrage from gays towards blacks, accusing them all of supporting the Prop 8 ban on gay marriage was a drastic exaggeration. Well no shit, Sherlock.
The article claims that the exit polls taken on Nov. 4 reflected that over 70% of black voters supported the ban. I knew that was a crock as soon as I heard it. Now i'm not claiming to be an expert on blacks or gays (forget the fact that I happen to be BLACK and GAY), but something about that percent seemed heavily skewed to me. The latest analysis of the exit polls taken in the CA counties with the largest black population show that the number is closer to 58%, and that age, socio-economic status and religious levels played a larger role in deciding prop 8 support than race.
58% is still rather high, and the black gay community has a LOT of reaching out to do, but it does show that not ALL blacks wish to toss all of the gays back into the closet for life. Yes, many blacks are heavy churchgoers and buy into the whole "if you're gay you're gonna burn in hell" rant, but many blacks also know the importance of tolerance, acceptance, love and the appreciation of diversity. We (speaking from my black perspective now, not my lesbian view) have faced more persecution and degradation in our history than any other culture and it's easy for others to use that as the argument for why the entire black race must be hipocrites for supporting prop 8. But it runs so much deeper than that. When we were in shackles, being beaten and sold for pennies, it was God who brought us through. It was our strong religious foundation that gave us the strength and the faith to see another day. That faith is deep rooted and no single proposition will completely shatter hundreds of years of belief, and when you have pastors across the nation using their pulpits as vessels of hatred and misinformation, it's hard to see through the BS and find your own truth. BUT, movement has begun. The black community has large numbers of LGBT family who are willing and ready to reach out and lend some understanding and knowledge on our issues. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than one ballot measure to open eyes and labeling an entire race as hipocrites wont get the job done either. We have to find a better way. Until we stop yelling, blaming and accusing, we will forever be on two sides of the same disenfranchised fence and we will never rise and get our just due.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Excellent blog post, Chanel.
Thank you
I can honestly say that I don't believe it either because as a lesbian myself, I'm inclined to believe and profess that it's not at all true. Perhaps some from the African-American community are still in the dark when it comes to homophobia, but there is also that large faction of African-Americans who are totally and completely against Proposition 8. I think that 70% is a rather exaggerated number and shows that we can't always believe what we hear. We need to do the research for ourselves.
~Ray~
Post a Comment