Don't blame latinos and blacks if Prop 8 passes

Alex Blaze of Bilerico Project lays out a cogent, clear argument that bucks the conventional wisdom in the LGBT community that if we lose marriage in California, it will be the fault of African American voters. This piece from Alex is so important and those of us who try to fight racism within our own community should commit it to memory.

Don't blame latinos and blacks if Prop 8 passes

via The Bilerico Project by alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) on 10/30/08

Here's the racial break-down of the latest SUSA poll on Prop 8.

	White	Black	Latino/a	Asian
Yes	48	58	47	42
No	47	38	41	48
Undecided	6	4	12	10
While there is definitely slippage between those categories (bi- and multiracial people, people of various racial backgrounds who get racialized as "latino" in the US and accept or reject that label to varying degrees), it's a rough estimate and it'll have to do if we're going to have this discussion about racial groups and their support for same-sex marriage. What I've been hearing, both from gay people I know and on this site, is an assumption that if Prop 8 passes in California, it's going to be because of racial minorities, which usually means blacks, and then latinos get tacked on to that. Coming from a latino background myself, I can say that the stereotype that all latinos are homophobic is about as true as the stereotype that all white people are homophobic, and the numbers in California support that. Continue reading "Don't blame latinos and blacks if Prop 8 passes"...