Recently I have found an incessant drum beats of the reason(s) why Prop.8 passed in California.  I am insulted by that incessant drum beat that sounds like African Americans and African Americans alone sank the hopes of gay marriage in California. Within the past few hours the attack has been extended to Latinos (see New Obama voters and Prop.8 ) . As a resident of California I know 70% was a bit drastic and hasty. The largest percentage of African Americans in California happen to live in Alameda County. Oakland is the county seat. The population is 13.7% of the Alameda County which voted No on 8. Looking through U.S. Census records reveals smaller percentages of African Americans in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties. All of these counties are in Southern California and voted Yes on 8.

Prop.8 lost in each of the Southern California counties listed. According to the secretary of state's web site, Yes on 8 received 53% approval in Ventura County, 50% approval in Los Angeles County, 57% approval in Orange County and 64% approval in Riverside County and 53% approval in San Diego County.

Comparing those numbers with the nine Bay Area and Northern California counties is striking. The City and County of San Francisco disapproved Prop.8 by 75%, Marin County disapproved by 75%, San Mateo County disapproved by 62%, Contra Costa Country disapproved by 55%, Napa County disapproved by 55%, Santa Clara disapproved by 55% and Sonoma County disapproved by 66%. The only county to approve Prop.8 in the Bay Area region was Solano County. The voters approved it 56% to 43%.

I went a little deeper and examined than compared Orange County in Southern California to San Francisco and Alameda Counties in the north. First Orange County has by itself just few thousand more or less Californians than San Francisco and Oakland combined. Furthermore, Orange County has far fewer African Americans than either San Francisco or Alameda Counties.

Orange County has about an one-and-half percent of African American population. According to the 2006 U.S. Census American Community Survey the population of Orange County goes a like this : 64% are white, 32% are Latino/a, 16% Asian American, 1.7% is African American, 0.33% Pacific Islander, 0.38% Native American, 14% are "other races", 2.44% are two or more races, 30% are foreign born and 32% are "Hispanic" of any race. So why didn't proponents of No on Prop.8 in Southern California spend more time in their own backyard? Why didn't opponents of Prop.8 spend time and money in African American and Latino communities? Why doesn't the white gay community take an interest in the every day lives of gay people of color? The perception is that white gay people don't give a damn about gay people of color until they are needed for actions like the defeat of Prop.8.

I guess my point is that 57% of all residents of Orange County, regardless of their ethnicity, said yes to Prop.8. Remember it has a small percentage of African American voters. It should be noted that Orange County is the home of nationally known centers of religious worship, such as Crystal Cathedral, Saddleback Church, and Calvary Chapel. Hence the name, the Orange Curtain. I think in this particular case, religion had more to do with the failure of Prop 8 more than African Americans. At least it did in Orange County.

Please visit the following links and stop bashing all black, latino and people of color. Gay folks will get no where with such acrimony and some other strartegy than only playing in Los Angeles ( where they lost ) and San Francisco . If one thing I understand from this past election is that if you expect to win you have to play every where; even in the places you know you might lose.

http://vote.sos.ca.gov/Returns/props/map190000000008.htm

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/7/34645/1235