Commentary: We’re all at fault

As the dust settles, a narrative seems to be emerging that casts the LGBT movement and African-Americans on opposing sides. I had hoped such stories would be restricted to a few blogs, but it was given credence in today’s issue of the LA Times:

For many African Americans, it’s not a civil rights issue . . . Although many of the state’s black political leaders spoke out against Proposition 8, an exit poll of California voters showed that black voters favored the measure by a ratio of more than 2 to 1.

The Associated Press delved further into the voting blocs, noting that “exit poll data showed seven in 10 black voters and more than half of Latino voters backed the ballot initiative, while whites and Asians were split . . . Of the seven in 10 voters who described themselves as Christian, two-thirds backed the initiative.”

Now, it would convenient to try and lay blame to others for the passage of this amendment. The electorate appears to have been strongly divided on the issue, making it easy to frame the battle as being “us versus them.”

But don’t give into the temptation. Don’t scapegoat other groups for our own failings. To do so would not only divide us further, but it would also ignore the shortcomings of our efforts.