Conventional wisdom says that blacks will turn out in droves in California – and in every other state – to support Barack Obama come November 4th. Conventional wisdom also says that blacks are a generally homophobic lot who will vote for the anti-gay marriage resolution that will be on the ballot in the Golden State. So we can conclude that on election day, blacks will greatly contribute to the end of gay marriage in California. Right?
Wrong, says Timothy Stewart-Winter in the LA Times. Sure, we all know that blacks will be voting in record numbers this election, but do we really know that blacks are more against gay marriage than anyone else?
daniel k
Al Sharpton has spoken out many times against homophobia especially in the black chuch. While I’m sure there are pockets of people who will back the ban, it’s still true blue California. Thanks for the huge generalization.
aNoN
African-American culture, by nature, supports machismo, hyped-up masculinity. Gay people, in their eyes, tend to not fit in well with this ideal.
Can we really generalize all of California’s black people into one category? No.
Can we make an educated guess, based on the community’s past feelings towards homosexuality? Yes. To answer the last question you pose queerty, yes; African-American people ARE generally more against gay marriage than anyone else.
Black voters in Cali may end up voting for the anti-marriage amendment. Which could make all the difference in the world.
tallskin
I am puzzled. Why would black voters vote against gays in california??
Surely the civil rights movement has taught black people the necessity of not persecuting another vulnerable minority group? Or is it the same as here in the UK, where blacks are some of the most illiberal and homophobic people in the country?
why is this?
GoodBuddy
Generalizing, I think the black political leadership is generally better on gay issues than white politicians. Not perfect, but better.
CHURCHILL-Y
Short answer is : Yes.
They’ll back up with religious fervour that wretched amendment while forgetting how they themselves and their ancestors have been discriminated and denied the same protections under the law in the past. But since they need to feel superior to others and since they always choose to hide their hatred and bigotry under the mantle of religion in order to feel better about themselves they’ll vote for a law that will hurt and put others in a position that they once occupied. They’re not known the world over for their retarded homophobia for no reason. Say bye bye to Marriage Equality in CA.
CHURCHILL-Y
Tallskin: it’s the same as in the UK.
Their hatred knows no ocean boundaries or nationality. I’m sure you’re well aware of that reading the news on this blog on any given day.
If your Gay here and you stumble upon a black neighborhood you need to venture with caution while watching your back and get out from it as fast as you can.
tallskin
Strange how afrolito and company are always silent when it comes to the subject of back anti-gay attitudes, or if they do comment they provide a yawningly boring list of excuses, yet are all over everybody like an aggressive rash spoiling for a fight if they detect any “racist” attitudes being expressed.
What was it Afrolito said on an earlier, let me check, oh yes, he called us all the “white racist fags on queerty”. Nice one Afro.
And then there’s that homophobic anal slime, bill purdue, with his anti-gay attitudes, advocating that anti-gay paradise of cuba.
Come on boys, I await your lengthy explanation for black anti-gay attitudes in the USA and UK. No doubt it’s all due to our “racist” attitudes.
Lauren Williams
Churchill-y & Co., when will you come to grips with the fact that you are using the issue of homophobia in the black community to justify your own racism, which is as unjustifiable and rooted in pathetic ignorance as the anti-gay attitudes you rail against?
daniel k
Instead of looking for a group to blame the possible passing of the ban, more effort should be put into making sure ALL Cali gays are registered and VOTE. Alot of those queens are so self absorbed so they are the ones to blame if the ban passes because they didn’t vote.
ChristopherM
I hadn’t read comments on here for several weeks. Now I remember why. Just like with the ManHunt guy yesterday, Churchilly and company prove that gays are just as likely to be assholes as anyone else.
Nitesurf
yes; African-American people ARE generally more against gay marriage than anyone else.
Bullshit.
tallskin
To Lauren Williams – Hey, you who live in your little two dimensional world. HOW ABOUT PEOPLE WHO BECOME “RACIST” (which according to people like you seems to be anyone who voices criticism of black behaviour) DUE TO THE HOMOPHOBIA OF BLACKS?
Does that compute? Do you understand that?
How about that every fucking friend of mine in London has suffered homophobia from blacks (or muslims, but overwhelmingly from black immigrants)? Every fucking one.
Am I supposed to keep my mouth shut? Am I supposed to be happy?
What would you have me do? Express my anger or not?
tallskin
ChristopherM you are a fucking arsehole
Mr C
Well excuse me Tallskin and Churchshit-Y for a bunch of WHITES who nothing about Blacks you guys seem to really believe us African Americans can really make this much of a difference and you also seem to know us in spite of your hatred for us.
I am really sick and tired of Queerty putting out such posts that are at most SUBLIMINALLY ANTAGONIZING us Blacks for something some Blacks may believe and not all Blacks do believe. But you seem to accept WHITE HOMOPHOBIA it’s WHITES that run America as well as Great Britain.
Well Tallkskin BITCH I’m here and I am not backing away from a MOTHERFUCKING thing.
DUH, There are more Caucasians than African Americans in America and the majority of WHITES in this country DO NOT support Gay anything.
The WHITE evangelical Movement DO NOT support Gay anything
The WHITE Southern Baptist Movement DOES NOT support Gay anything
The predominately WHITE Catholic Church DOES NOT support Gay anything
And by the way you BRITISH FAG who is looking for an excuse to blame BLACKS for everything. What about those 2 WHITE kids who killed a gay Brit….where is your fucking outrage over that?
Then again it’s OK those kids are white and PURE.
I get it. It’s OKAY to be WHITE and hate anyone that isn’t WHITE. But it’s GOD AWFUL for anyone to hate Gays especially Black people even though there are some WHITE gays that do not like us (Blacks).
What a bunch of fucking idiotic hypocrites and By the way ASSHOLE I don’t believe Bill Perdue is Black he is just a Caucasian who calls it as he sees it.
But still and yet they want equality, marriage rights, etc and still feel that Blacks are beneath them….
GO FIGURE!
Seamus
Mainstream black culture does have a problem with gay people. Just do a poll of black gay men and women. They’ll tell you. I would attribute the likelihood that a large majority of black voters will support Prop 8 to the deeply embedded religious fundamentalism within that culture. Sadly, conservative anti-gay blacks have joined with conservative anti-gay whites in a new supremacist movement. Only this time the inferiority of the other is based upon sexuality rather than skin color. Very sad.
One would hope that more black citizens would have the courage and insight to see past the religiously inspired anti-gay bigotry to the vilified denigrated dehumanized gay citizen. But people are people no matter the skin color and people tend toward fear, xenophobia and scapegoating unless protected from such ugly ideologies by enlightened parents and and enlightened education. And of course, one generally becomes less knowledgeable and less tolerant toward the world the more one is exposed to religion, especially and specifically the fundamentalist supremacist type which dominates the mainstream black and to a tad lesser extent the white community.
Are there any new polls out showing the status of Prop 8 amongst likely voters?
seitan-on-a-stick
When you click “continued” to finish reading this story, we are taken to the Stereohyped site. Queerty seems to capitalize on the divisive issue of Race when gays are more likely to embrace interracial relationships than the general population. I feel segregated by this site. The KKGays will always represent an extreme as do Homophobic Rappers and those who emulate that culture and it’s values. The Right-wing Church will always be a louder chorus than the left-wing Church whether black, white or other. It pains me to read Gays using the ‘F’ word to each other. Most homophobes (including self-hating gays) use that word to belittle others deemed a threat. It transcribes as a “Fear of Gays.” What outreach have we done in African-American communities who may poll as being against Gay Marriage beyond the presumptive Democratic Nominee for the President, Barack Obama’s prolific statements in African-American churches on Gay Accceptance. There’s more profit in division for the media (including Queerty) as the spirited primaries proved. It’s the media, stupid.
SeaFlood
I believe some of you are being obtuse (and racist) willfully.
Most of you BELIEVE these things about B/black people and B/black culture. It doesn’t matter whether Afrolite or any other B/black person or person of color tells you otherwise, provides logic against your specious reasoning because you need need need homophobic black people in order to justify your OWN RACISM.
Common sense should tell you that B/black people are not a monolith. We aren’t all het. We aren’t all Christian. We aren’t all into hip-hop/rap and it isn’t as if heavy metal, rock, and country all aren’t ensconced in some HEAVY and HARMFUL masculinity ish. But like Mr. C points out, white masculinity, as puerile and sculpted from the same materials as B/black masculinity except with a huge gob of internalized racial superiority, has been and continues to be harmful. Just because white folks aren’t LOUD about their homophobia, and what, with organizations like GLAAD there to ensure they are taken to task, doesn’t mean it isn’t still in action.
What is the percentage of B/black people in CA? Now, how many in that percentage are lesbian, gay or bi (and not DL — we do exist, folks, thank you, throughout this discussion and the initial post, thank you for making us invisible… AGAIN)?
What is the percentage of white people in CA? Consider, AhNahld was voted in this state… filled, as it would be, by a majority of white people… and he’s conservative…
*shakes head* Sometimes, I think you all go out of your way to show what racist, fascist gay assholes you are.
SeaFlood
@ seitan-on-a-stick
I think you hit the nail on the head. Media. There’s no profit in unity. However, I would rather the unity be authentic, but I don’t think we were ever able to wait on that, ok?
Also, I don’t know if interracial relationships are “embraced” within our communities, but I will agree that there is more variety of couples within our community.
michael
Early in Obama’s campaign he visited a predominately black church in Texas. In his speech he said that nobody should be discriminated because of race, religion, or sex. Each time he said this the crowd cheered. However, when he said that LGBT folk should not be discriminated against the crowd stayed silent. He then said, and I paraphrase, that he knew that some people would have a problem with him because of his stance but that was to bad. The crowd seemed to come around and start seeing his point of view. I don’t think black folks are anymore homophobic than your average white folks. But I do think that just like white Christians, black Christians are homophobic and a high number of blacks practice Christianity. California is a more liberal state and I am going to keep the faith that the black population there is as well and that if Obama can get to a church in the most red necked state in the country then it should not be that difficult to appeal to the intelligence of all Californians, whether they be red, yellow, pink or green. I would rather lay responsibility for peoples ignorance and bigotry on the philosphies, religions and where the area they might live instead of merely blaming the color of their skin for their thinking. Skin does not think, it just protects our organs and feels good when you rub it. So lets stop this shit and deal with whats really creating this ignorance in our world.
Lil' tOmtOm
sorry but i dont blacks. thats all im sayin
ChristopherM
Tallskin, when it comes to racist motherfuckers like you, you bet your ass I am.
Seitan and Michael, thank you for bringing some good sense to this discussion.
crazylove
recent polls of prop 8
whites — 54 against, 41 for
blacks — 54 against, 41 for
We don’t know what will happen in Nov. But as of right now, I think arguments about race are based on b.s.
Mr C
Seaflood,
Thank you very much for what you wrote. Ufortunately alot of them just don’t get it because the hate is embedded in their hearts. And that’s sad.
So they use the ONLINE RACE HATING.
Giovanni
Will Queerty stop being so cynical or will I have to stop visiting this site?
John
“But I do think that just like white Christians, black Christians are homophobic and a high number of blacks practice Christianity”-Michael
Yep. That’s true. I’m black and I’m NOT religious AT ALL, so I really don’t get it. But it’s so true-it’s religion that spreads homophobia and who isn’t more religious than black people??
I also think a good dose of self hatred is another reason for homophobia in the Black Community, as well as a natural leaning towards Conservatism.
But how many times can we make excuses? What rallies me is when you see Black people who should no better and who are homophobic.
That’s effed up.
Badly.
crazylove
I see people have choosen to ignore the polling data to argue that there is a difference between the black community and white with regard to this issue in California. To me, this says a lo tmore about folks john than it does about the polling data says.
Steve
Crazylove…
“Fifty-four percent of white non-Hispanics, and blacks and Asians, oppose the measure, while 41 percent of both groups support it. DiCamillo said that the sample of likely black voters was so small they had to be added to Asians. ”
You always need to put data in a context…
Charley
I live in California and the NAACP came out in favor of gay marriage and wrote a brief to support the CA Supreme Court Case. The problem is fundamental religion, black and white. California doesn’t have alot of those “Ron Parsley” types as they do in southern states. The Hispanic Catholic’s may be a problem at the voting booth, but not blacks.
crazylove
The last post is about what I suspected on the issue.
Mr C
Charley as to your post “ENOUGH SAID”
John says:
After reading that the only one who has a problem with being Black is you!
How in the HELL can 16% of a state population make that type of difference in regards to this?
No offense you sound like a fool and have a good dose of self hatred yourself.
Get a Grip! These type of posts only bring forth statements from people who need excuses to hate Blacks and now we have a Black person who hates us as well as himself also.
VERY SAD