We need to vent on Prop 8: Give it a week.

Nikki Stone1

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Sat Nov-08-08 06:21 PM
Original message

We need to vent on Prop 8: Give it a week.

Please don't decide that because an issue is not "your" issue that it does not deserve focus in GD on DU. It does. This is an issue about basic civil rights. But also understand that people will vent and then it will calm down. That always happens. Remember the primaries? Remember days and days and days of Sarah Palin, her daughter, the Baby Trig (and whose baby he really was) etc. etc. etc.? All of that National Enquirer-worthy garbage was allowed to dominate GD and GD-P and we didn't get a separate forum for Sarah Palin rumors and innuendo.

Doesn't the Civil Rights of gay Americans deserve at least as much GD time as Sarah Palin's family dirt?

Here is the background for those who are wondering:

Prop 8 was put on the ballot by religious groups, many from out of state including James Dobson's "Focus on the Family." the Knights of Columbus," (Catholic Church) and Mormons. No specific church donated money in its own name. The Catholic church worked through the Knights of Columbus and the Mormons worked through private means as well. Many other churches, however, including the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutherans, and many others came out against Prop 8. So one can't blame religion as a whole.

Many people are to blame for Prop 8's win. The commercials were deliberate scare tactics (really nasty to watch) and they boiled down to "The gays will get your children!!!11111!!!" The rebuttal ads were not as forceful as they should have been, and some were almost apologetic. In addition, Obama's own quotes against gay marriage were used in robo-calls throughout California. African Americans voted 70-30 FOR prop 8 and AA women were the largest single group of Prop 8 supporters at 74%. The news media caught wind of this, blamed blacks for the success of Prop 8, and that is why it became an issue on DU. Considering that African Americans were 18% of the vote in CA, that 70% made some difference. The proposition only lost by 5 percentage points. But to blame only blacks is wrong. The majority of Latinos voted for Prop 8 (though they were more even percentage-wise for and against) and while the majority of whites voted AGAINST prop 8, there could have been more. From watching the polls, most CA adults did not have a problem with gay marriage but they were scared by the commercials that their children would read stories about two princes living happily ever after or be forced by the school system to watch a lesbian wedding. (These were actual commercials.)

Besides the polls, there is also the expectation (probably wrong) that because African Americans have been oppressed that they will automatically fight against the oppression other groups face. In that sense, African Americans are being held to a higher standard than other groups. But, there is no reason that anyone should be expected to generalize the experience of oppression to all people. That takes a special kind of training and education. The only group I know that continually fights against the oppression of all peoples is Feminists.

People need to be taught that if one group is oppressed, we all share in that oppression because there is no guarantee that any group can keep its rights if there is a precedent of denying those rights to others. If we can get this message out there, gay marriage as a right will be considered a "no-brainer."