Gay is NOT “The New Black”!
Ron Buckmire, Ph.D.
Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition
Occidental College
Outline
Brief History of Marriage Equality
 The New Black Gay
 Proposition 8 Rehash
 Proposition 8 Aftermath
 Gay Is NOT the New Black
 Next Steps
Q & A
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September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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A Brief History of Marriage Equality
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Baehr v. Lewin, (Hawai’i, 1993)
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First State Supreme Court to rule “traditional
marriage laws” unconstitutional (plurality
decision)
Federal Defense of Marriage Act
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Sec 1: No state has to recognize same-sex marriages
Sec 2: Federal government prohibited from
recognizing SSM (Signed into law by Pres. Clinton
Sep. 21, 1996)
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Baehr v. Miike, (Hawai’i, 1997)
Repealed in Nov. 1998 by Amendment 2
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September 30, 2010
“The Legislature shall have the power to regulate
marriage.”
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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History of Marriage Equality ’93-’10
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Electoral Backlash Occurs
 Between 1998 and 2009 31 states vote on ballot
measures restricting marriage rights or relationship
recognition (Score is 1-31; AZ voted twice)
 California’s Proposition 22 passes March 7, 2000 62%38% “Only marriage between a man and a woman
shall be valid or recognized in California”
 2006 AZ becomes first and only state to defeat an
anti-gay ballot measure, 2008 AZ passes marriageonly ban
 2008 Proposition 8 passes in California 52.3%47.7%
Courts start legalizing marriage equality
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Massachusetts (2004)
Connecticut, California (2008)
Iowa (2009)
Legislatures start legalizing marriage equality

September 30, 2010
Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, District of Columbia
(2009)
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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The New Black Gay: The Barbara
Jordan/ Bayard Rustin Coalition
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Founded in Summer 2006
Only Black LGBT political advocacy
organization in Greater Los Angeles
Major Achievements:
 Maintained a paid staff (almost)
continuously since 2007
 Marched in 2009 & 2010 MLK
Day Parade
 Coordinated Grassroots AfricanAmerican outreach against
Proposition 8
 Primary partner in convening a
Multiracial LGBT Collective in
Southern California, Q*POC-LA
 Quoted in the New York Times,
Los Angeles Times, Washington
Post, Advocate, Curve Magazine
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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The Barbara Jordan/ Bayard Rustin
Coalition
Barbara Jordan
(February 21, 1936January 17, 1996)
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1st African-American woman to
be elected to Congress from a
Southern State (Texas) in 1972
1st African-American woman to
be elected to the Texas State
Senate in 1968
Gave the Keynote Address at the
1972 Democratic National
Convention
Unacknowledged lesbian, met
partner Nancy Earl in late 1960s
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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The Barbara Jordan/ Bayard Rustin
Coalition
Bayard Rustin
(March 17, 1912August 24, 1987)
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Co-Organizer of the 1963 March
on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom
Co-organizer of the very first
Freedom Ride in 1947
Unofficial co-founder of CORE
Known as Martin Luther King,
Jr.’s “right hand man”
Pled guilty to a 1953 consensual
sodomy charge in Pasadena, CA
Openly gay, Black, exCommunist Quaker!
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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Proposition 8: Timeline
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Spring 2005: CA LGBT community started preparing for
another anti-gay marriage proposition
Late 2006: Let California Ring public education campaign
launched
Spring 2007: The “Tripping Bride” Ad created
October 2007: ProtectMarriage.com was approved to start
circulating petitions to collect signatures for an initiative
constitutional amendment
March 2008: In Re Marriage Cases oral arguments before Cal
Sup Ct
April 2008: Nearly 1.1 million signatures delivered to CA
Secretary of State
May 15, 2008: CA Supreme Court issues In Re Marriage Cases
decision
June 2, 2008: Proposition 8 certified for November 4, 2008
ballot
June 15, 2008: same-sex couples start marrying in California
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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Proposition 8: The Media War
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August 2008: Let California
Ring airs “Tripping Bride” ad
constantly during Beijing
Olympics TV coverage
September 2008: Let California
Ring print and radio ads run in
ethnic media outlets until the
end of the month
September 22 2008: First NO
ON 8 ad airs: “Don’t Eliminate
Marriage For Anyone”
September 29 2008: First YES
on 8 ad airs “Whether You Like It
Or Not”
October 7 2008: Yes on 8 airs
“Princes” ad
October 22 2008: No on 8 airs
response to “Princes” ad
October 23 2008: Yes on 8
responds with “Truth”
October 30 2008: No on 8
ends the campaign with
“Divisive” and “Discrimination”
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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Proposition 8: Results
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Certified Election Results on Proposition 8
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September 30, 2010
Statewide
 YES 7,001,084 (52.30%)
 NO 6,401,482 (47.70%)
 Margin: 599,602 (4.6%)
 Voter Turnout: 13,743,177 out of 17,304,091
(79.42%)
Los Angeles County
 YES 1,624,672 (50.04%)
 NO 1,622,287 (49.96%)
 Margin: 2,385 (0.08%)
 Turnout: 3,246,959 out of 4,111,642 (79%)
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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Proposition 8 Aftermath: Black vs. Gay
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CNN Exit Poll released days after the election
showed that 70% of African Americans voted in
favor of Proposition 8
Later revised down to 57-58% Yes vote by Black
voters by an academic analysis in January 2009
(Egan & Sherrill)
Media narrative became centered on Blacks
versus Gays (two marginalized groups fighting for
scraps!)

Between Nov. 4-Nov 18 I appeared in/on
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September 30, 2010
The Los Angeles Times
Good Morning America (Sunday)
KABC-TV
Local radio stations (KCRW-FM, KPFK-FM)
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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Proposition 8 Aftermath: Gay Is The
New Black(?)
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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Why Gay is NOT ‘the new Black’
1.
2.
3.
4.
There are people who are both Black and Gay;
Assuming Black and Gay are oppositional identities
negates the intersection.
Although both communities have experienced
identity-based discrimination, slavery (and its
incidents) is simply not equivalent to what LGBT
people have experienced (Clearly both groups do
not enjoy full equality in America today)
The phrase “Gay is the new Black” and facile
comparisons trivialize both the experience of Black
people and LGBT people in this country and leads
to the “Oppression Olympics” (Hancock, 2011)
To paraphrase Dan Savage, the gay rights
movement is a civil rights movement but the
movement for racial equality is the Civil Rights
Movement.
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
13
Next Steps
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Proposition 8 was struck down as unconstitutional by a
Federal judge in Perry v. Schwarzenegger on August 4,
2010
Appeal scheduled before 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals set for Dec 6, 2010
Only other way to repeal Proposition 8 is through
another statewide ballot measure (2012? 2014?)
Jordan/Rustin Coalition has started to receive
funding to do testing of messages about marriage
equality in the Black community in Los Angeles and
build capacity
Recent polls show that majorities of Californians and
Americans (nationwide) support equal marriage rights
for all people (AP 52%-46% 9/2010; CNN 52%-46%
8/2010)
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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The Future!?

Blogger Nate Silver
(fivethirtyeight.com) has
looked at the 30 states that
have voted to amend their
constitution and done a
regression analysis which
shows that the most
important factors are
1. The year in which the
amendment was voted
upon;
2. The percentage of adults in
2008 Gallup tracking
surveys who said that
religion was an important
part of their daily lives;
3. The percentage of white
evangelicals in the state.
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When extrapolated into the
future it shows the year in
which a similar vote to ban
gay marriage would fail in
each state
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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Thank You


Prof. Tamura Howard
Oscar Cobian
Any questions?
September 30, 2010
"Gay Is NOT The New Black" L.A.
Southwest College
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