|
|
| Who is Michelle? | Politics | Social Issues | Random Observations | Daily Meditations | Beauty | Style | Thinking Out of the Box | Arts & Culture | Relationships | Luxury Coupons |
Dose of Social Issues
November 22, 2008
The furor over Proposition 8 is a transparent, religion-fueled side show. While blaming the enormous voter turnout of Blacks and Hispanics for ultimately creating a wave of support for a ban on gay marriage, the media lacked the sophistication to assess the effect that class and education -- rather than race -- played in the outcome of this explosive vote.
It is not always about race. It is not always about race. One more time with feeling, it is not always about race. Sometimes it is about something else, that just looks like race ... but it ain't.
So, the dark denumoi to this historic Presidential election was the success of Proposition 8 in California. When the news of the ban's support was first reported, media analysts immediately pointed to how the Black and Hispanic communities must have voted. They suggested that the high voter turnout in these communities positively impacted the ban. Specifically, that Blacks and Hispanics came out actively against gay marriage. And, ultimately, that the unusually high voter turnout of these groups toward electing Obama, resulted in a tidal wave of support for the ban that somehow backfired on the gay community.
The mainstream media's unnuanced approach to the intricacies of religion's intersection with race and class foster the consensus that Blacks and Hispanics conservative religious beliefs prevented them from voting in favor of gay marriage. There is no doubt that the greater secularity of the middle and upper-middle class white community certainly makes gay marriage a wild card issue Meaning, it is not possible to detect how this group, when lumped together by race alone, ignoring socio-economic class and level of education, truly feel as a voting block. But the media had no problem lumping Blacks and Hispanics, assessing this vote by race rather than religion alone.
I would go so far to say that it is, in fact, necessary only to look at the religion, socio-economic and education levels of people that came out to vote for the ban in California. Race and ethnicity was completely incidental to outcome of the ban's support.
So, let's think about this for a moment.
Undoubtedly, one needs to understand that the acceptance of human beings' varying sexual orientations and practices emerges from education and exposure. Sexuality, in all of its incredibly lovely forms, is a part of the human condition that is given significance by cultural norms. The relevance and assessment of these norms only becomes apparent to us, through explanation and education. We can accept and ultimately respect, only that which we are taught to understand.
In communities, whether in the US or around the world, where there is enormous poverty, there is little education. And, where there is little or no education, oppression and despair, strict doctrines around the human condition emerge. These restrictions facilitate the state or the church, or both, to render control over its citizens, while simultaneously starving them both spiritually and physically.
In the US, Blacks and Hispanics are the poorest populations, substantially lacking many of the educational opportunities of white Americans. Without boring you with the statistics here, these communities are historically, comparatively and overwhelmingly uneducated. In fact, here in New York City, the high school graduation rate for Black and Hispanic young people is less than 1 and 3. This wicked statistic most certainly has its roots in poverty and oppression.
Now, enter the church, to manage and spiritually feed American minorities who have, until very recently, been denied the opportunities to learn the skills needed to transcend poverty in this country. Historically, for Black Americans, the church has served as the surrogate parent of a people who were denied even basic humanity in this country. Furthermore, the Catholic church has served this same purpose in Latin American countries and here in the US for centuries. Now, throw in some of that good time Pentecostal fire and brimstone to stir a hurting spirit, and you have a recipe for the failure of any doctrine that seeks to force a religion sated mind out of its own closet.
Realistically speaking, the supporters of Proposition 8 only inadvertently benefited from the high voter turnout of Blacks and Hispanics. The media then used these voters' participation in the electoral process to both cast blame and distract from the economic power of conservative Christians and the powerful Mormon church.
Without belaboring the point that Mormons and born-again-ers and Evangelicals have never liked the gay community .... they have NEVER liked the gay community. So what else is new?
So, the lesson here is that when the electoral process works, it behooves the State to ensure that its citizens are educated. In a country where the poor and uneducated rarely vote, it doesn't matter. But , when a law requires at the very least a complex understanding of sexuality and human dignity, and it lies at the core of legitimizing the companionships within a single community, like the gay community, then suddenly that community has something directly at stake in the education of the ignorant, where once it did not.
So, now about improving public education and charter schools...
