Black Vote for Prop 8 57%, not 70%!!!

Sorry I have been away. I know I promised several short pieces on Prop 8, but life got the better of me.

Anyhoo, in a story that came out last week in the Washington Blade, there is some new data soon to be released by David Binder that will show that 57% of Black voters in California supported Prop 8, not the 70% CNN originally reported (though it is buried in the Blade story) This is significant because it was this number that made Dan Savage and many white gays act as though Prop 8′s passage was as bad as the Dred Scott Decision, and black people were particularly to blame for its passage. I guess lip-synching along shirtless to Beyonce and Deborah Cox remixes at the club got confused with real political coalition with actual Black people. Whatever.

It’s not that I am happy that 57% of Black voters voted for that dumb shit, but can we get a little perspective here? Furthermore, it IS signigicant to point out the lies and flawed assumptions that led us into this conversation anyhow.

I, along with my co-editor Lisa Duggan from NYU did a show on Prop 8 for KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley, CA that aired two weeks ago, where we talk about Prop 8 and the marriage issue in general. LISTEN to it here.

Thanks for pointing this out to me, Cole!