The Anti-Gay Amendments are the only real black cloud on this sunny day

[stevenleser]

I think what is responsible is religious fundamentalism in both the white and black communities. I saw the unfortunate thread where there was some condemnation directed at the black community, but lets not forget that slavery and discrimination drove the black community to the church which is one of the few places that were usually safe. The church became one of the central places of community and belief and that is why there is a lot of church driven indoctrination as to what is moral. It all goes back to racism.

I think we should concentrate on how to fix where we find ourselves.

[bunkerbuster1]

1. I think we have to keep it in context...

Prop 8 in CA was VERY well financed and, from what I heard and saw, slickly advertised. Yet it barely passed.

Remember too (I've not seen anyone mention it here yet) that Obama actually talked about "gay and straight" in his speech last night. No President ever has.

Things are changing. Not as quickly as I'd like but they are changing.

[TheDonkey]

5. I agree. The situation is not are dire as it may seem and we NEED outreach and education

especially among urban African Americans and Hispanics. I think the GLBT community has done little outreach here and that is why we saw such shocking margins for those demographics. From experience I can tell you that Prop 8's defeat was a 2 way street. Yes on 8 was well financed and No on 8 has a glaring hole in its strategy (to ignore people of color).

[Tektonik]

2. Don't forget elderly Hispanic fundamentalism

[DevonRex]

3. Please don't leave the Catholic and Mormon churches out of this equation.

While I agree that religion is very, very strong in the black community for many reasons, every other ethnic group has it's dominant religions which also preach against gay marriage.

Somehow we have to stop people's religious beliefs from controlling us. But I don't know how.

[deepthought42]

4. That's not going to be easy...

as long as people still 'godless' as an insult...

[Starry Messenger]

7. Exactly.

I've been looking stuff up and posting it on my facebook page for me and my friends who are disappointed today. I'll add them here:

http://www.miketidmus.com/blog/2008/10/25/the-wirthlins-hit-the-road-for-hate/

http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=3414

Stories about the stalking horse Mormon couple who have appeared in the deceptive ads from ProtectMarriage.com.

I think they are very important reading.

[goletian]

6. it cant last. itll be challenged

[izquierdista]

8. The only black clouds?

Joe McCarthy's granddaughter is still a congresswoman from Minnesota.

Alaska is going to send a convicted felon to the Senate.

Obama's victory is of the same order as Bill Clinton's in 1992, and we all know what happened two years after that.

On balance, yesterday was sunnier than it was cloudy, but there is plenty of work left to do. You can bet that the right-wing will be busy tearing Obama down even before he gets sworn in. I remember seeing 'Impeach Clinton' bumper stickers by spring of 1993. Soon all progressives will see what gays are seeing right now: this was the first victorious battle, but there is still a long war ahead.

[musicblind]

9. Well... that and Al Franken lost :(