--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Gillam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Funny. The Slate article I read today - > > http://www.slate.com/id/2204534/ > > - dealt with the fact that African-American > voters were largely responsible for passing > Proposition 8 because Blacks, more than > European-Americans or Latinos, consider > homosexuality to be a lifestyle choice, > rather than inborn and immutable, and > hence are less likely to accept it. > > From the article: > > "The NBJC [the pro-gay National Black Justice > Coalition] report notes that blacks are 'more > likely than other groups to believe that > homosexuality is wrong, that sexual orientation > is a choice, and that sexual orientation can > be changed.' Polls confirm this." > > So that's another take on Prop 8.
I'm not sure the two contradict each other, actually. I've read several different analyses of the vote that don't support the "largely responsible" idea (although it's hard to know exactly what "largely responsible" means). The votes in favor were mostly white, although blacks voted for it in higher percentages. It doesn't seem to be the case that if blacks had voted against it in the same percentage as whites, it would have lost. The article by Ford doesn't say that there was no homophobia involved, only that he thinks the majority of those who voted for it didn't do so out of homophobia. (Far as I know, he doesn't have any actual data; it's just a hypothesis, but it's a logical one considering that there's majority support for gay rights generally.) I wouldn't argue with the premise that blacks are more likely to believe homosexuality is a choice, but I was a bit annoyed by the teaser for the article, which suggested it would explain *why* they believed this, and it didn't, it just said *that* they did. I'd like to know more about why. I do think Ford's point that the analogy to racism doesn't really work is important, and he makes an awfully good case for it. Throwing the analogy in black people's faces isn't going to make black people feel any more friendly toward gays, so it would be better if we could legitimately ditch it. > As for preserving sex roles, I can go along > with that premise, too, because I belive the > Matriarchy is not only rising, but is the root > cause of most of the social upheaval we see > today, domestically and internationally. Sorry > I can't back that up with statistics or good > stories - it's just an opinion my wife and I > share. Power is flowing to women, and it's > freaking people out. Goodness knows we've seen plenty of freaking out right here on FFL! I agree that power is flowing to women and that this is making a lot of people uncomfortable (women as well as men). I do hope we don't ever move past balance all the way to matriarchy, though.
