Reap what we sow

by Tracy Baim
Windy City Times

There is a lot of outrage about the hypocrisy of a populace that would vote for “change” and a candidate who represents the nation's true ideals of diversity, Barack Obama, and also vote to ban gay marriage. How could someone vote for Obama and against gay marriage? Why did so many African-Americans vote against same-sex marriage in California? The numbers show high rates of anti-gay votes among Blacks and Latinos, who were especially targeted by the multi-million-dollar funding of the tax-exempt Mormon Church.

I will leave for another day the issue of any tax exemption for any group that is involved in political lobbying, including any church. I will also leave for another day the fact that the same-sex marriage that had been allowed in California did nothing to destroy hetero marriage; why not instead have a a ballot banning divorce? ( Now THAT would save traditional values. ) And finally, it is also a tragedy that any civil rights should ever be allowed to come up for a popular vote, but that, too, is a separate issue.

Rather, I want to add my two cents to the general fault of the gay movement in trying to fight for our rights. There is a lot of blame to share in the California debacle. Bad tactics by the gay groups lobbying against Prop 8. The Mormons. James Dobson. Right-wing fundraisers who use the gay issue as a cash cow. But those who are blaming certain racial groups, or the “uneducated,” are off the mark and playing into racial stereotypes. You can use raw statistics to find a “cause” for any success or failure. But to say any one racial group is more homophobic is a simplistic, shallow and a wrong analysis.

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