Gay is NOT “The New Black”!
Ron Buckmire, Ph.D.
Jordan/Rustin Coalition
Occidental College
Outline
History of Marriage Equality ’93’08
 The New Black Gay
 Proposition 8 Rehash
 Proposition 8 Aftermath
 Gay Is NOT the New Black
 Next Steps and The Future

April 10, 2009
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History of Marriage Equality ’93-’08
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Baehr v. Lewin, (Hawai’i, 1993)
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First State Supreme Court to rule “traditional marriage
laws” unconstitutional (plurailty decision)
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Sex discrimination (yes)
Sexual orientation discrimination (no)
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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)
Baehr v. Miike, (Hawai’i, 1997)
Repealed in Nov. 1998 by Amendment 2

April 10, 2009
Dependent on Immutability of Homosexuality
“The Legislature shall have the power to regulate
marriage.”
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History of Marriage Equality ’93-’08
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April 10, 2009
Baker v. State (Vermont, 1999)
 Ruled the State of Vermont must treat same-sex couples
similarly to opposite-sex couples
 Vermont Legislature enacted and Gov. Howard Dean signed
the nation’s first Civil Unions bill which went into effect July 1,
2000
Electoral Backlash Accelerates
 1998 (HI, AK)
 2000 (NE, CA)
 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”
 2002 (NV)
 2004 (13 states!)
 2005 (KS, TX)
 2006 (8 states, AZ becomes first and only state to defeat an
anti-gay ballot measure)
 2008 (CA, FL, AZ)
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History of Marriage Equality ’93-’08

Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health (Massachusetts, 2003)
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February 12 to March 11, 2004 San Francisco City Clerk
issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples
Federal Marriage Amendment (FAILED 227 Yes, 186 No Sep.
30, 2004 in U.S. House)

April 10, 2009
Ruled the State’s denial of civil marriage was not “rationally
related to a legitimate state interest” and violated due process
(fundamental right to marry) and equal protection (creation of
second class citizens)
Delayed the decision 180 days to go into effect on May 17, 2004
(50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education)
MA constitution requires amendments approved by state
legislature in two consecutive sessions (earliest The People would
be able to vote on the question would be November 2006)
“Marriage in the United States shall consist solely of the union of
a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the
constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that
marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any
union other than the union of a man and a woman”
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History of Marriage Equality ’93-’08

Do Justices read election returns? George W. Bush
defeats John Kerry in 2004 election

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2005-2008 mostly state court losses

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Legislative actions: California passes marriage bills
in 2005 and 2007, vetoed both times by Governator
Washington (2006)
New York (2006)
Maryland (2007)
Lewis v. Harris (New Jersey, 2006)
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In Re Marriage Cases (California, 2008)
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April 10, 2009
State must treat same-sex couples equally
Proposition 22 and state’s marriage law are
unconstitutional
sexual orientation is a suspect classification
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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:

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April 10, 2009
Maintained a paid staff
member
Marched in 2009 MLK Day
Parade
Coordinated Grassroots
African-American outreach
against Proposition 8
Helped convene a Multiracial
LGBT Collective in Southern
California
Quoted in the New York Times,
Los Angeles Times,
Washington Post, Advocate,
Curve Magazine
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The Barbara Jordan/ Bayard Rustin
Coalition
Barbara Jordan
(February 21, 1936January 17, 1996)
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April 10, 2009
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
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The Barbara Jordan/ Bayard Rustin
Coalition
Bayard Rustin (March
17, 1912- August 24,
1987)
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April 10, 2009
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
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Proposition 8

LGBT community started preparing
in Spring 2005
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Let California Ring launched in
2006-2007

April 10, 2009
Caucuses Formed (Black, Latino, API,
Faith, Labor)
Equality For All executive committee
Non-profit public education campaign
about marriage outside the context of
an election campaign
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Proposition 8
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April 10, 2009
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
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Proposition 8
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April 10, 2009
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
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Proposition 8
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April 10, 2009
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”
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Proposition 8 Aftermath

Certified Election Results on Proposition 8


April 10, 2009
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
 Turnout: 3,246,959 out of 4,111,642 (79%)
"Gay Is NOT The New Black"
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Black vs. Gay: Proposition 8 Aftermath

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CNN Exit Poll Released showed that 70%
of African Americans voted in favor of
Proposition 8 (later revised down to 5758% by an academic analysis)
Media narrative became Blacks versus
Gays

April 10, 2009
Between Nov. 4-Nov 18 I appeared in
 The Los Angeles Times
 Good Morning America (Sunday)
 KABC-TV
 Local radio stations (KCRW-FM, KPFK-FM)
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Proposition 8 Aftermath: Gay Is The
New Black(?)
April 10, 2009
"Gay Is NOT The New Black"
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Why Gay is NOT ‘the new Black’
1.
2.
3.
4.
April 10, 2009
There are people who are both Black and Gay
Although both communities have experienced
identity-based discrimination, slavery (and its
incidents) is simply not equivalent to what LGBT
have experienced
The phrase and the comparison trivializes both
the experience of Black people and LGBT people
in this country
To paraphrase Dan Savage, the gay rights
movement is a civil rights movement but the
movement for racial equality is the Civil Rights
Movement.
"Gay Is NOT The New Black"
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Next Steps

Varnum v. Brien (Iowa, April 3, 2009) will go into
effect April 24th
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April 10, 2009
Unanimous 7-0 decision
Sexual orientation is a “quasi-suspect classification”
Vermont! (S. 115 passed the Senate 26-4 and
the House 95-52, enacted over Governor’s veto
on Tuesday April 7th by votes of 23-5 and 100-49)
New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island and Maine all have marriage equality bills
pending
The Task Force’s Maine LGBT Power Summit in
Portland, ME (April 24-26)
California Supreme Court will issue a ruling on
Proposition 8’s legality by June 3rd 2009
"Gay Is NOT The New Black"
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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.

April 10, 2009
When extrapolated into the
future it shows the year in
which a similar vote to ban
gay marriage would fail in
each state
"Gay Is NOT The New Black"
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Thank You



April 10, 2009
P. Gabrielle Foreman
George Aumoithe ’11
Bowdoin Queer-Straight Alliance
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