“So why? Why Blacks, why Hispanics, why Jews? For people who have experienced so much discrimination and unequal rights through the years, why were you so quick to deny others of theirs?”
NEW DATA :
How did you vote on the following: Prop. 8, Eliminates Right of
Same-Sex Couples to Marry. Initiative Constitutional Amendment?
Region Ethnicity
All Non-valley Valley White Hispanic Black Asian
N = 1200(100%) (62%) (38%) (55%) (24%) (15%) (6%)
Yes 30% 32% 27% 18% 50% 47% 36%
No 57% 54% 62% 75% 39% 40% 50%
Didn't vote 1% 2% 0% 0% 3% 3% 1%
No response 11% 12% 10% 7% 8% 10% 14%
Total 99% 100% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100%
(C) 2008 Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles Presidential
General Election Exit Poll in the City of Los Angeles. Preliminary results as of November 4, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. Margin of error is +/-
2.8% for All category.
In addition, the Leavey Center reports that while many religious organizations supported Proposition 8, there was one major exception in Los Angeles, according to exit polling by the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University . The center's data found that 78% of Jewish voters in L.A. opposed the ban on gay marriage and just 8% supported Prop. 8. More on the polling and the methodology here. (By the way, Leavey found that "Los Angeles Jewish voters gave Obama 78% to 20% for Republican John McCain. Among all voters in L.A., 72% voted for Obama and 24% for McCain.")
This information is just another data point, but I would like to apologize to my fellow tribesmen and women, at least here in L.A., for questioning their commitment to equality!
3 comments:
Adam-
I'm shocked that you've repealed your earlier apology, but not included an apology to the no on prop 8 leadership. Keep in mind that this is my perspective and I speak for myself - a mere 20 year old.
First off, we actually DID win los angeles county (barely, with absentee votes), and we won Northern California (where I'm from) a large margin.
As someone who worked 80 hour weeks (during school), and knows that his fellow campaigners did the same, I find it amazing that you have the chutzpah to criticize us. Did you work 14 hours a day, in several cities, donating much of YOUR pay to the campaign? Did you recruit several hundred people, call even more, and fundraise thousands of dollars?
Second off, although I agree that the campaign did start in minority communities late, we did address those communities. We had pamphlets in spanish, chinese, and vietnamese.
Much of the reason that we lost, actually, was because we were not able to get enough volunteers to have large gatherings in that area. I know that I was outside early voting in city hall in San Francisco -- but we couldn't DO that in Orange County because our team of volunteers was so tiny.
If you want to criticize someone - criticize your community. I've been told "it'll never pass", "i have other commitments", "i'm sick" hundreds of times, I've been talked down to, talked rudely to, and to be honest, I'm hurt and ashamed of the gay community that would treat me like that. Talk to the couples that told me "we're already married - why should we care?" Talk to the men who laughed at men, the women who said it wasn't a high priority. Then tell me it was MY fault.
I know we were out there - for many, many hours a day - in conservative areas, calling voters in mono and lake counties. Where were all these people in the protest rallies? I know they weren't at headquarters - because I was there. For a long, long time.
I sincerely hope that in such a close race, with a large improvement in a mere 8 years, that you look towards the positive and prepare yourself for the next fight. Because prop 8 is being challenged in the courts, and it's not near over.
Anonymous,
First off I wanted to thank you for all of your hard work and efforts during the campaign. I also appreciate that you’ve taken the time to comment and offer your thoughts and perspective. Now if I may respond.
Did you not read my full post? I didn’t repeal any apology. I just offered another data point, and based on that additional data point I offered an apology to that community that I first questioned.
Were you on the leadership team? Were you responsible for making decisions as it related to strategy, message, preparation, organizational structure, and outreach? If so I posted that I was angry with you. If you were on the leadership team, then I asked for your resignation. Nowhere in my post did I point blame at anyone. (although I guess in asking for someone’s resignation I must be implying that I blame them) I simply expressed who I was angry with. Nowhere in my post did I point blame or criticize volunteers or campaigners. You’ve asked a number of questions of me and I’ve written about many, but not all, of the things that I’ve done as a member of a grassroots organization that has worked to defeat prop 8. As a member of a grassroots organization, I’ve had a number of working interactions with the “official” no on 8 campaign and that is where my perspective and views on the leadership team come from. In that, like any organization, I believe in accountability and responsibility. You cite a large improvement in the vote in a mere 8 years. Is that because we changed many people’s minds from a campaign perspective or is it because there were a lot more younger people voting who didn’t vote in 2000? How many people voted Yes in 2000 and No in 2008?
If you read my post again you will see that I cited my anger at our community first. I completely agree with you on our community’s lack of involvement throughout the campaign. However, with that lack of involvement, someone has to be responsible for why that was. Why wasn’t our community educated about why this issue was so important? You cited many examples of things that were told to you and I too heard many of those excuses.
I stand by exactly what I wrote in BITTERsweet and how it was written. (including the addition and apology today) Election Day has passed and the voters of California have spoken. We must move on, learn from our campaign’s failures, and adjust for victory in the future. You don’t have to hope for me. I, and my organization, began our efforts to repeal prop 8 on Saturday.
Thanks again for reading and taking the time to share your perspective on your efforts throughout the campaign. I am hopeful that you and I will have many, many more volunteers working with us as our fight continues.
I'm not on the leadership - I'm only twenty. But I fully stand by the campaign, knowing that with our careful record-keeping we moved a good 4 percent of undecided voters (with a LOT of paid + volunteer phone calls). We had thousands of volunteers on election day - almost 1/4 of those who had ever volunteered with us were there on that day. We were out educating our community, but you need to realize that unlike other minorities, it's a risk to put yourself out there, especially when you don't believe you yourself will get married. We especially succeeded with the youth, where on college campuses and in many other ways, we were able to reach out and make prop 8 as big an issue as the president.
We were everywhere in California, and I personally think that we (California) were not ready. The campaign did all it could, in my opinion.
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