Gays concerned about a fissure with African Americans in their liberal coalition

I was recently directed to a letter written by National Gay and Lesbian Task Force encouraging their folks to not point the finger at the African American community for shooting down their efforts to defeat the California Proposition 8 constitutional amendment which defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

It says in part:

This past week has been a difficult time. With the passage of Proposition 8 in California to change the state constitution to eliminate the right to marry, our community has experienced a difficult defeat. We are angry and upset by the passage of Proposition 8 and the betrayal of the promise of equality that has been the hallmark of the Golden State. Yet, we know that this is only a setback in—not the end of—our journey toward full equality for the LGBT community.

It is natural to analyze what went wrong. But in recent days there has been a tendency to assign blame to specific communities, in particular, the African American community. The fact is, 52 percent of all Californians, the vast majority of whom were not African Americans, voted against us. In addition, the most recent analysis of the exit poll that drove much of this speculation determined that it was too small to draw any conclusion on the African American vote, and further polling shows that the margin was much closer than first reported. Most importantly, though, none of this discourse changes the outcome of the vote. It only serves to divide our community and hinder our ability to create a stronger and more diverse coalition to help us overturn Proposition 8 and restore full equality and human rights to LGBT people.

The letter eludes to the fact that there's frustration among homosexuals with the African American community which basically put the amendment over the time. I've heard 70% of African Americans voted for the amendment, far more than any other racial group. Without their support it wouldn't have passed.

African Americans went out to vote for Obama in overwhelming numbers while at the same time voted to protect marriage.

I suspect homosexual activities know that many African Americans are not too excited about having their race compared to a person's sexual preferences as white liberals love to do regarding same sex marriage and previous bans on inter-racial marriage. (For the record, the comparison is invalid; inter-racial marriage bans are also anti-marriage because it attempted to keep particular women and men from marrying; something which is fundamentally different than efforts to fundamentally redefine the institution to include same sex persons.)

Who knows but the election of Barack Obama to the presidency may usher in a new era of African American political engagement in politics. One in which the African American community looks at issues and politics with a fresh perspective. Realizing that alliances with the homosexual community and other liberal groups aren't in their best interest. Whether it pertains to the redefine of marriage which will only cause further disintegration of the family which has so dramatically harmed the African American community. Or the push for further expansion of the welfare state which has only generated dependency and further family breakdown.

The interests of the African American community do not coincide with liberal interest groups.

"DFL honchos" and out of state money working to legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota state legislature

By Chuck Darrell

Kersten writes that some “DFL honchos” in Minnesota don’t understand that the only safe place for marriage in Minnesota is in the state Constitution.

Some, perhaps.

However, the attack in Minnesota is more organized and premeditated than a rogue judge. The attack is from within the state legislature lead by “DFL honchos” with out of state money.

Did you know that same-sex partnerships were almost passed in the 2007 Minnesota legislative session?

Four bills were introduced to legalize same-sex relationships. One bill attempted to establish same-sex domestic partnerships for hospital visitation. Yet our quick poll of six metro area hospitals revealed an open policy towards visitation by same-sex partners.

Do we really need to legalize same-sex partnerships to allow hospital visitations?

Thanks to a veto threat from Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the bills were never passed.

What if we didn't have a pro-family governor?

Did you know that out-of-state, anti-marriage money helped defeat Senator Mady Reiter, a co-sponsor of the Minnesota Marriage Amendment bill?

Her opponent, Senator Sandy Rummel received 44% of her itemized individual contributions from thirteen wealthy anti-marriage activists. Most of the thirteen contributors were members of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, one of the largest homosexual activist organizations in the country.

Do you realize the same legislative majority that pushed for same-sex marriage will return with a vengeance in the 2008 session?

And, did you know that a same-sex couple has filed a lawsuit in Rochester suing a fitness club to obtain a family membership? The club denied the family membership because Minnesota does not recognize same-sex marriage.

Now that you know, what do you plan to do about it?