Jeffro, thanks for that... a couple of pages ago I posted a link that suggested the split in voters was not so much ethnic or racial, but generational. I'd be interested to hear from the California residents whether they think that's true, and if so, what might be done about it.
I believe there probably is a generational divide. In one of my posts I mentioned the older guy I met on election night who said he thought the whole thing was 'silly'.
But the more I think about the race part of the equation, the less I believe that anything could have been done to change that.
There are gays in every single community out there - we are not defined by race. It is amazing to me that, a large percentage of the population, perceive that gays are only white males. That should come as a surprise to the black, latino, middle eastern, asian men I have slept with over the decades.
Why weren't they heading up the push within their own communities?
I'll tell you why. Because many of these men were not out to their families, they knew they would be rejected. They sensed that most of their parents knew but, if you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist. Putting something gay oriented on a ballot is not going to yield a positive result in these communities. I would bet that in a lot of cases,
particularly if there was a gay child in the family, those parents would be the first to vote against gay marriage - if the option does not exist, their child may end up marrying someone of the opposite sex. Take that right away then being gay is no longer an option. (and no, that doesn't make sense but it does seem to be the thought process for parents in denial).
For the record, I know self-hating gay white males who voted "Yes" as well (see: Jerry, the guy I met election night).
I resent some members of the gay community blaming other minorities, but I really resent being told that the gay white males needed to reach out. For some of these families, if their own children could not persuade a "no" vote, then some gay white guy ain't gonna do it.
