One Giant Leap Forward, Several Steps Backwards
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5 November 2008 | 4 Comments
While the election of Barak Obama is a huge leap forward, I just want to remind people that many other things didn’t exactly go our way last night…
- It looks like we lost on Prop 8 in California (final numbers aren’t in yet). $73 million was spent on that fight. $37.6 million by gay friendly forces and $35.8 million by bigots. That’s a huge loss. Personally, I’m ambivalent about it. While I’m married I’ve never thought forcing someone to recognize your relationship changes anything. They either genuinely recognize it or they don’t. Give it a few years and it will fix itself.
- Gay marriage lost in Arizona (no surprise).
- We’re now banned from adopting children in Arkansas.
- Gay marriage lost in Florida.
So in a way it was a very bad night for gay rights last night (abortion rights didn’t have a very good night either). BUT the silver lining is the Supreme Court judges that Obama will appoint and the fact that anti-gay legislation will have a hard time getting passed on the federal level with the Democrats in charge. In the end we will win, but yesterday was very much a mixed message from a gay point of view.
The funny part is that California used to always be seen as the most gay-friendly part of the US. I think we can say that that’s now changed. New York and New England are doing much better for the gay community. As of yesterday there are now no Republican senators from NY/New England. Massachusetts has gay marriage. Connecticut will have it in a few days, and New York recognizes gay marriages from other states (to a limited extent). That means four of the New York’s immediate neighbors have gay marriage – Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ontario and Quebec.
That said, I was just a little bit surprised with the election results in Manhattan. Last election 86% voted for Kerry. This time 85% voted for Obama. I’m really surprised the percentage went down (even a point) – I was expecting it to go up. Still, 85% makes me proud to call NYC home.
There are still Republican Senators in Maine. Two of them, actually.
It was actually a good day for abortion rights. All liberal causes except gay rights had victories.
California has a very narrow window of appeal. Apparently there’s a question whether prop 8 qualified as an amendment or a revision to the constitution. It’s just procedural symantics, but hopefully could be enough to put the issue back on the ballot in a year when it isn’t so heavily influenced by the presidential vote.
Arizona was a /little/ bit of a surprise since, until tuesday, they were the only state to have previously voted down this kind of measure (they tired it a couple years ago). And we can take slight comfort that Arkansas did not only ban gays from adopting, but rather now only allows it for married couples. I’d like to think that it would cause a stir if the state starts revoking adoptions due to divorce or death of a spouse.
Florida, of course, was an enormous blow. Amendments there require a 60% majority, so we REALLY got screwed. Should we be boycotting orange juice again? lol
I still think it’s a toss-up whether Obama or McCain would have been the lesser of two evils on the gay rights front. Obama isn’t likely to do much to advance the cause, but at least he probably won’t screw us over like Bush tried to do. Thankfully, there’s not much chance that any action on that front will be taken up at the federal level in the next few years. I wish I could say that Obama’s Supreme Court nominations will improve things, but the only three justices that are likely to retire soon are all already liberals.
I have to wonder, though, exactly whether Obama’s campaign helped or hurt the gay cause. Atlanta’s newspapers repeatedly point out that the millions that went into his advertising could have been better spent in more positive ways, considering the state of our economy. It certainly makes me wonder, how many citizens’ campaign contributions went toward Obama that might have helped influence any of the four battles we lost.
And then there’s this comment from Time Magazine:
“Gays came back in some polls, but they couldn’t pull out a win. Part of the reason is that Obama inspired unprecedented numbers of African Americans to vote. Polls show that black voters are more likely to attend church than whites and less likely to be comfortable with equality for gay people. According to CNN, African Americans voted against marriage equality by a wide margin, 69% to 31%. High turnout of African Americans in Florida probably help explain that state’s lopsided vote to ban same-sex weddings.”
Overall, it’s an unfortunate situation we face, that a majority vote is now required to ensure the rights of the minority. It’s one of the main reasons why ‘activist courts’ have made better progress than legislative action or executive decree. Until we as individuals are able to sway the opinions of our neighbors, public opinion will work against us in so many areas of this nation.
Oh… and the 15% of Manhattan that voted for McCain… that would probably be Wall Streeters, corporate heads and the wealthy elite who drive the nation’s economy. Which will make it even harder for the democrats to fix the financial mess we’re in.
At least I can take comfort that even if I COULD get married, It will be quite a while before I’m not too poor to afford the ring, tux, and reception hall.