While much has been made of minority groups and their votes for anti-gay amendments, like Florida's Amendment 2, 
there is something we are missing as a community. It isn't a racial issue- it is a religious one.
Exit polling from CNN on Florida's Amendment 2 shows the true culprit of hate and bigotry are those who belong to certain religions, regardless of race. Protestants and Catholics overwhelmingly supported Amendment 2, while Jewish, Unitarian, and other progressive religious voters overwhelmingly opposed it, as did those with no religious affiliation.
The statistics after the jump...
Vote by Religion
Protestant (52%)
71% Yes
29% No
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Catholic (27%)
66% Yes
34% No
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Jewish (4%)
38% Yes
62% No
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Other (6%)
40% Yes
60% No
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None (10%)
35% Yes
65% No
As you can see, the largest voting bloc is Protestants. And they voted for Amendment 2 over 70%, followed closely by Catholics. That is why the "Yes2Marriage" campaign was successful- they tapped into the largest voting blocs and tailored their messages to them. Using buzzwords like "traditional marriage", the "sanctity" of the unions, and "activist judges", they shaped the fight from the very beginning. It is also interesting how these religious institutions gave large sums of money to this political campaign, which basically amounted to legislating a religious viewpoint, not a civil or constitutional rights one.
They basically established theocratic law in our state's constitution.
Somehow our community must untangle basic human rights from these deeply held religious beliefs. We also have to face the fact that while we are angry about our losses, we cannot place the blame in the wrong place. We have to take a step back, look at the data, and see how to best move forward.
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1 Comment
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Waymon...all I can say is, Amen (lol). Seriously, though, the stats point up the need for predominantly-gay churches, the few there are, to develop some personal relationships with our fellow Christians in the straight churches. Not easy when they're being brainwashed by their pastors and priests, but it can be done.
beachcomberT | November 13, 2008 11:37 PM
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