Prop 8 And The Black Community

On Andrew Sullivan's blog:

"That was our mistake. So many African Americans don’t look at gay marriage
as a civil rights issue. They look on it as a religious one. And we, for
whatever reason ... fear? Arrogance? Complacency? We did not do enough outreach
to them. We need to begin a dialogue with them, because we should be putting
this back on the ballot every election every year until we win," - David
Geffen, to Kevin Sessums. Amen.

I like the idea of putting Prop 8 repeal on the ballot every year until we win. As for the problem that the gay community has with African Americans, that will be tough given the fact the African American president-elect Obama opposes marriage equality. We can do outreach at the grass roots level, but we also have to make a compelling case to the new president that he is wrong headed in his opposition to our fundamental right to marry our partners. There's nothing wrong with a two pronged approach. I just don't see national gay rights organizations holding Obama's feet to the fire on this. They're just delighted that McCain didn't win. This, it seems to me, is an inadequate posture going forward. We have to demand full equality and we have to demand it from Obama.

Jim