Sunday, June 21, 2009

Reasons why the Cali Gay Community has to reach out beyond WeHo


One of the biggest failures of the No on Prop 8 campaign was the outreach to minorities and LGBT minority groups.

And after many meetings, protests and marches Cali's gay groups pledge to do better. But if they still need any convincing, they should look in the Los Angeles Times.

They just did a poll that should give these group plenty to work with.

Here's some results
White voters were most emphatic in their support for same-sex marriage, with 68% supporting it and 27% opposing. African American voters were strongly against it, with 54% opposing same-sex marriage and 37% supporting it.

Opposition to gay marriage by African Americans was widely seen as a major factor contributing to the passage of Proposition 8. Latinos in the current poll were split, with 45% supporting same-sex marriage and 46% opposing.

Within the Latino population, there were additional divisions: women, the young and people with college educations offered more backing for gay marriage than men, older voters and those with fewer years of schooling. Since the passage of Proposition 8, political analysts have suggested that statewide support for same-sex marriage is only a matter of time, and the poll offered support for that idea.

Among Los Angeles voters, support for same-sex marriage grew consistently stronger as the age of respondents decreased.

Among those age 18-29, 66% said same-sex marriages should be recognized as valid, while 29% disagreed.

The percentage of support declined slightly with each increment of age; those age 50-64 supported gay marriage by a narrower 55%-39% margin. The only voters to oppose same-sex marriage in greater numbers than those who backed it were those older than 64. In that group, 43% supported legal gay marriages and 48% were opposed.

This should be helpful for the next campaign. They know what they need to do and marching in WeHo is not the ideal.

Time to take the message to East L.A. and South Central.

Source

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I believe many thought with the mere mention that this was a civil rights issue, all minorities would be on board. That was not the case. As in any civil rights discussion, education and identification is more important than assumption.

Anonymous said...

Here' in RI general support* for marriage equality runs 57 to 60% among all citizens.

In the 18-29 year old group it runs 87%. I've never seen ethnic demographics but RI's urban sectors are pretty much Latino at this point. But it's mostly Dominican and they rank as good people in my book.

Prince Todd said...

I agree with this. Most black people, even many LGBT's, see this movement as a "white thing." The gay community is not thoroughly addressing the needs of gays of color who deal with a whole myriad of other issues.

Prince Todd said...

I agree with this. Most black people, even many LGBT's, see this movement as a "white thing." The gay community is not thoroughly addressing the needs of gays of color who deal with a whole myriad of other issues.

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.