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Why Did Prop 8 Win?

“There’s no way Prop 8 will win in California. It’s the most liberal state in the U.S. Hollywood’s just crawling with gays. Plus, it’s a blue state that’ll totally vote for Obama. Anyone voting for a black guy advocating change will also vote for equal rights. If Prop 8 will lose anywhere, it’s in California.”
You might have heard variations of the above in the weeks leading up to Election Day 2008. Back then, the Yes and No to Prop 8’s sides muscled for money, and public opinion stayed about even. Despite the millions of dollars, numerous advertisements, and celebrity endorsements, Prop 8 ended up passing 52 to 48 percent, overturning a California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage on May 15th, 2008. According to the court’s initial decision, marriage is a human right and the California Constitution prohibits denying anyone social equality. In fact, the current lawsuits filed against Proposition 8 on behalf of married gay couples cite the exact same argument.
Even though California’s government asserts that any already performed same-sex marriages are still legally recognized, some county clerks are confused when Prop 8actually goes into effect.
QueerClick ran several PSAs soliciting donations to No on 8,and also a comprehensive Weekender explaining both sides of the gay marriage argument. Ultimately, we made a case for the social benefits of gay marriage, namely on economic grounds (arguably the more persuasive argument in economic-minded America). Now after our defeat, we examine why Prop 8 won, what it says about America’s LGBT movement, and where we’ll go from here.

Openly gay statistician David Silver suggests that voters over 65 helped pass Prop 8, meaning that voting for Prop 8 occurred over age lines rather than racial lines. Gay essayist and activist Dan Savage agrees with Silver. Here, the handsome Mr. Savage takes on President of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins. They are moderated by the silver fox, Anderson Cooper.
Let’s quickly dispel a racial myth about Prop 8’s victory, that blacks and Latinos overwhelmingly voted for the measure. It is true that 70% of black voters and 52% of Latino voters supported Prop 8. But one should also note that both communities are spread out all across California, meaning that black and Latino voters did not singlehandedly make the majority of any county in favor of the measure. In fact, blacks only make up 6.7 percent of California’s electorate while Latinos make up 14 percent.
The incorrect perception that “blacks and Latinos tipped the vote in favor of Prop 8” created an instant scapegoat that brought racial tensions in the LGBT community to the surface, tensions now being exploited by the likes of conservative pundit Bill O’ Reilly and Tony Perkins—president of the bigoted Family Research Council. It’s a divide-and-conquer strategy meant to pit two discriminated groups against one another instead of acknowledging the countless other groups who voted overwhelming in favor of Prop 8 by over 60 percent:

• The elderly (65+)
• Republicans
• Conservatives
• People who decided for whom to vote in October (but not within the week before the election)
• People who were contacted by the McCain campaign
• Protestants
• Catholics
• White Protestants
• Those who attend church weekly
• Married people
• People with children under 18
• Gun owners
• Bush voters
• Offshore drilling supporters
• People who are afraid of a terrorist attack
• People who thought their family finances were better now than 4 years ago
• Supporters of the war against Iraq
• People who didn’t care about the age of the candidates
• Anti-choicers
• People who are from the “Inland/Valley” region of California
• McCain voters

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