Is gay the new black?

Richard Burnett
rburnett@hour.ca
 

The Advocate trumpets that gay is the new black

I was thrilled with the victory of Barack Obama on Nov. 4, but was deeply saddened by the banning of gay adoption in Arkansas and of same-sex marriage in Florida, Arizona and California.

Gay civil rights activists have since held noisy protests across America, boycotting businesses that supported the anti-gay campaigns, and some have vandalized Mormon churches because the Mormons donated a whopping $20-million to California's anti-gay campaign.

Like comic legend Robin Williams said at Place des Arts last week, "Mormons defending marriage is like lepers giving facials."

But instead of blaming Mormons for their successful hatemongering campaign, as well as chastising gay activists for running a poor campaign, many gay activists are blaming black Americans.

That's because California exit polls revealed 70 per cent of black voters voted against same-sex marriage.

But nailing blacks for that loss is racist because it took a whole lot of white people to pass the measure in the first place. Analysts agree, however, that first-time black voters shifted support for California's gay-marriage ban from 48 to 52 per cent. In other words, blacks enabled a win for the anti-gay movement.

That win was huge because, when it comes to gay marriage, California is the U.S. bellwether state. So goes California, so goes America.

 

Is gay the new black?
Hour.ca, Canada