(Most) Black Folks Oppose Civil Unions and Gay Rights

Blacks Oppose Gay Rights

Black Americans form the most consistently progressive voting bloc in the country. Yet, we are the racial group most likely to oppose gay rights legislation, civil unions and homosexuality.

Actually, some say we have a split personality when it comes to liberalism and gay rights.

That point was driven home once again in a recent national Pew Research Center study that measured attitudes on homosexuality among different groups, including white, black and Hispanic respondents.

Blacks are much more likely to think that homosexuality is morally wrong (64 percent) than whites (48 percent) or Hispanics (43 percent), according to the Pew survey.

Two-thirds of blacks polled opposed gay marriage, while 49 percent of Hispanics and 52 percent of whites are opposed to it. Fifty-two percent of blacks oppose civil unions for gay people.

The split between blacks and gays was shown dramatically last year during the vote on California's Proposition 8, the ballot measure overruling a state Supreme Court judgment legalizing same-sex marriage.

Exit polling indicated that seven in 10 black voters voted yes to uphold the same-sex marriage ban. Fifty-three percent of Latinos also backed Proposition 8, along with 49 percent of whites.

Cultural conservatism, influence of the church and longstanding taboos against homosexuality in many African nations have been given most often as reasons for the rejection of the gay agenda among a majority of black people.

In recent years, gay rights activists have compared their plight to that of the early black civil rights pioneers, but most blacks have rejected that view. They say homosexuality is more an issue of morality than equality.

For me, the black-gay split drives home a point that is often lost when it comes to black people: We are not a monolith. Black people bring a variety of experiences and views to the table.

For nearly all black people, issues of racial equity are important. In the past, the Democratic Party has championed those issues more effectively than Republicans. But for many black people who were raised in a church-going environment, homosexuality and civil unions are against Biblical teachings.

Therefore, it makes sense that a lot of black folks can accept the overall "liberal," or Democratic, agenda and question or reject a part of it.

So is it any wonder why so many blacks vote Democratic but take a dim view of homosexuality? Whether you support gay rights or not, the findings of the Pew study shouldn't surprise anyone.