To all my gay brothers and sisters

[gaspee]

I no longer live in California (I lived in SF for ten years.) I am so disappointed in the voters of CA.

My biggest disappointment, my very real feelings of BETRAYAL come when you study the breakdowns by race. White people voted No on 8 - black and latinos voted yes. How horrible is that?!?!?!

Link to breakdowns

I invite all my gay brothers and sisters to join me here in New England. California is obviously not the place for us... but if you look at the rights we have here in NE, you might be pleasantly surprised.

While my own state of RI does not officially offer marriage equality, all rulings in the state have recognized marriages performed in Massachusetts.

Not all is fantastic here, we still encounter haters in our day to day lives, but it is better here than in CA or any of the other states whose majorities decided we aren't fully human. They decided that we do not deserve rights afforded to all human beings under the Constitution of the United States.

Come and make a home here in New England. It's a fantastic place to live. Bring your wealth, creativity and love; can never have too much of any of those.



edited to add a link to the breakdowns

[demokatgurrl]

1. I am so sorry to hear about California

shocked, really.

[Window]

2. I, too, am disappointed. What a shame!

[Rockholm]

3. Massachusetts and the rest of New England.

We have it all!

[Divine Discontent]

4. a majority of Blacks and Latinos, not all, voted for this damn thing (74% of AA Women!)

and I made a point about it tonight at the Sacramento Obama party at the Radisson to go up to most of the Black guys that joined together and stayed separated from the other 1000 people there in their groups, when yet, allllll around me, people were mingling with others outside of their colors, age, appearance - and yet a couple dozen young black men never interacted with anyone but themselves. I love watching social behavior, so I went up to several of the large group, and started talking directly to one young man. I, within minutes, pointed out I was Gay (I'm white) and was saying how refreshing it was to hear Obama point out how we all need to come together in his acceptance speech, and he ended the conversation by shaking my hand about 15 seconds after that - it was so obvious.

I then spoke to a Jewish woman, and told her, I was certain, without seeing the results yet, that Latinos and AA more than likely voted at a higher rate for the anti-Gay proposition - and thanks to you, I see that's true.

Sigh... For the AA community, it is because there is a vast amount of AA's who have been taught to look badly on it by their families/Baptist church and the macho mannerisms of rap/hip-hop, and for Latinos it's the Roman Catholic and macho cultural BS.

Thank you for posting this - isn't it horrible - that a lot of the very people that are judged for being minorities are so against GLBT!? I was very grateful Barack mentioned Gay people in his speech.

EDITED TO NOTE - Black women voted YES on prop 8 by SEVENTY-FOUR PERCENT to 26 - OH MY GOODNESS, that's horrible.... Black men looked to be around 60% yes, Latino Men 52%, and Latino women 50% - White men and women voted just over a majority against prop 8....


Many different Yes We Did items in the Obama/Biden section www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

[gaspee]

6. It's made me feel

completely betrayed. Not even angry, just defeated and betrayed. And that's not a good feeling.

[Divine Discontent]

7. me too... to know that I have stood up and put my JOB on the line for a black man who is anti-gay

because he did not do what he was accused of, makes me so upset to see our fellow minorities (even if it's not a color thing, we're still different than the majority of people and we're judged at a high rate) stab us in the back - especially AA women and men at a 2/3 rate of voting yes on prop 8 - just sickening... Again - it makes Obama's comments at the forum to the Black leaders, and in his speech tonight - very important - he could have ignored us and he didn't...

keep hope alive, my friend.... :hug:

[Loge23]

5. Apologies from FL

The pursuit of happiness is not bound by who we wish to love.
I am very disappointed by FL's vote, though not surprised.
As a resident of FL, I invite all people who love another - of whatever gender - to at least visit us here in peace and let everyone here know how narrow-minded, hateful, and hurtful we can be to deny a human right.
Obviously, we still have a long way to go in America to ensure the pursuit of happiness.

[MNDemNY]

8. Am I mistaken that Prop 8 needed 60% to pass???

[Divine Discontent]

11. yes, it just needed 50

I just looked at the breakdown link provided in the OP... some shocking clear votes by certain groups. The age one that includes all people was odd


Ballot Measures
California Proposition 8: Ban on Gay Marriage

Vote by Sex
Total
Yes
No



Male (46%)

51%

49%






Female (54%)

50%

50%






Vote by Sex and Race
Total
Yes
No



White Men (31%)

49%

51%






White Women (32%)

46%

54%






Black Men (4%)

N/A

N/A






Black Women (6%)

74%

26%






Latino Men (8%)

52%

48%






Latino Women (11%)

50%

50%






All Other Races (9%)

48%

52%






Vote by Race
Total
Yes
No



White (63%)

47%

53%






African-American (10%)

70%

30%






Latino (19%)

51%

49%






Asian (6%)

47%

53%






Other (3%)

50%

50%






50-64 year olds were split on it, yet the brackets right around it were strongly for it! weird... expected the youth to vote against it, and thank God, they did - at least that bodes well for the future...


Vote by Age
Total
Yes
No



18-24 (11%)

34%

66%






25-29 (9%)

40%

60%






30-39 (17%)

50%

50%






40-49 (22%)

58%

42%






50-64 (25%)

50%

50%






65 or Over (16%)

59%

41%

[MNDemNY]

12. Fuck.

[Coexist]

9. so, sooo sorry from Florida.

[Divine Discontent]

16. thank you FLDem5. my friend in FL told me issue 2 needed 60 and it actually GOT it there, sick!

despite an Obama victory... like I saw in the link above - 3/4 of AA women and 2/3 of AA men voted for prop H8 here in CA, and like our fellow DUer said below - it's a sad irony, that the minorities who helped usher in his sweeping victory also helped push through anti-Gay measures with noticeably higher YES votes compared to Caucasians. :(

[Heidi]

10. Kick.

and recommended. This is incredibly disappointing.

:kick:

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. there is a certain irony

in that the increased minority turnout that helped put Obama in the White House led to the passage of so many anti-gay causes.

[Divine Discontent]

14. OUCH... but you just nailed it - If I ever get to say that to Obama I will..... eom

[Amimnoch]

15. It is so disappointing beyond words.

On such a great day in the history of the country, when we move past centuries long discrimination and elect our first president of an ethnic race other than white.. also is the same day when 3 states.. 2 of which having large populations write discrimination into law. It's an emotional rollercoaster of highs with Presidential elect Obama's win, coupled with lows regarding especially Prop 8 in California, and Florida and Arkansas.

[Divine Discontent]

17. I'm starting to get very angry, I better go to bed...

this is such a disgusting outcome, but I know it's NOT over... and even though a majority of our AA brothers and sisters, and a majority of all over 60 years of age voters chose to remove rights - we know there are people of all types who are fighting for us - and we cannot give up... just so damn heartbreaking to see Obama, a half Black/half Irish man get in office, and see hate written into constitutions thanks to a higher than expected amount of minority voters who I've fought for my whole life (even before I realized I was Gay). :(

we WILL overcome this horrible vote.

[Divine Discontent]

18. I'm starting to get very angry, I better go to bed...

this is such a disgusting outcome, but I know it's NOT over... and even though our AA brothers and sisters, and a majority of all over 60 years of age voters chose to remove rights - we know there are people of all types who are fighting for us - and we cannot give up... just so damn heartbreaking to see Obama, a half Black/half Irish man get in office, and see hate written into constitutions thanks to a higher than expected amount of minority voters who I've fought for my whole life (even before I realized I was Gay). :(

we WILL overcome this horrible vote.

[Ioo]

23. Don't forget AZ. Third time was a charm!

[stuntcat]

19. oh no

My best friend lives in San Francisco, I can't talk to him for a few more hours. He's gonna be so mad.. he was just ecstatic last night when I went to bed.

I'm gonna give him your message later when I talk to him!

[Mass]

20. So sorry. It is really sickening.

[nichomachus]

21. Thanks for the invite, but I was thinking Spain would be nice.

Failing that, Canada.

And, Mexico has real separation of church and state, although there is that macho bullshit stuff. Very easy to immigrate into Mexico, a little harder for me in Canada and Spain, but still possible.

[Ioo]

22. We gays did not fair well accross this nation tonight.

[AnnieBW]

24. I'm appalled by the CA vote

And I'm sorry that I didn't really do anything to help out. I'm in Maryland, so it was on the other side of the country. And, quite frankly, I thought that this one was in the bag. I apologize to my GLBT brothers and sisters in California.