DID YOU EVER THINK THAT PROP 8 PASSED BECAUSE THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY DID NOT DO ENOUGH TO REACH OUT TO PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF ITS IMMEDIATE GROUP OF SUPPORTERS? From my own experience, people against Prop 8 did not make an effort to create dialogue with other groups who could have potentially supported them, and essentially just preached to the choir. AND ONE LAST THING: PLEASE STOP CO-OPTING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT FOR THE LGBTQ MOVEMENT. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME. WHILE IT IS TRUE AFRICAN AMERICANS AND GAYS BOTH SUFFER WITHIN SOCIETY, THEIR STRUGGLES ARE NOT THE SAME. THIS CAN DEFINITELY BE PROVEN WITH THE FACT THAT EVEN WITHIN THE GAY COMMUNITY, MINORITIES, AND ESPECIALLY AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE STILL DISCRIMINATED AGAINST. TELL ME, WHO IS GOING TO HAVE A HARDER TIME IN LIFE, A CAUCASIAN GAY MALE OR AN AFRICAN AMERICAN GAY MALE? THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION SHOULD MAKE IT OBVIOUS THAT THE STRUGGLES ARE NOT THE SAME.
It kills me the way African American have been blamed for supposedly "passing Prop 8". Do you, and others like you, not realize that African Americans do not make up 70% of all voters in California? And to people who are essentially saying that "because African Americans are black and should be all too familiar with discrimination, they should be the first to support gay rights," NO NO NO. African Americans are people first, they have the right to hold their own beliefs, keep their own religions, maintain their own faiths just as anyone else; or perhaps, has everyone forgotten this fact? In no way am I saying that passing Prop 8 was morally right, because I definitely don't think fundamental human rights should be voted on by people not affected by them, but people against Prop 8 need to respect the fact that people voted the way they did and now focus on improvement, NOT BASHING OTHER STIGMATIZED GROUPS.
respectfully,
amyanderson