Divided they stand

November 4 was a night of contradictions in the United States. That night, while Americans made history as they elected their first African-American president, millions of people in California were stripped of their right to marry simply because they are gay.

And while Americans from many different ethnic backgrounds, religions, and sexual orientations came together to elect Barack Obama and enter an era of change, they stood divided on whether to allow two people of the same sex to get married or not.

Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment meant to define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman, was approved by 52 per cent of Californians. On the days that followed, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community organized mass protests, showing their discontent towards two main groups: the Mormons and African-Americans.

It was in fact the Mormon Church that was behind Proposition 8. Its members contributed to the yes on Prop 8 campaign with more that $20 million. The church ran a campaign in which they made gay marriage a religious issue, and not a civil rights one. It was the Mormons’ effectiveness in convincing people that this was a religious matter that won them most of the African-American vote.

Seventy per cent of African-American voters supported Proposition 8, and for many gays and lesbians, this is a reflection of the widespread homophobia among blacks. But blaming African-Americans also brought up the inherent racism among some homosexuals.

“Three older men accosted my friend and shouted, ‘Black people did this, I hope you are happy!’” wrote A. Ronald on Rod 2.0, a blog targeted at gay African-Americans. Ronald wasn’t the only blogger that reported such attacks, and the irony is that most of those African-Americans verbally abused by gay men and women at anti-Prop 8 rallies were gay too.

The passage of Proposition 8 is indeed a sad episode in a time where people seem so eager about political and social change. Not only does banning same-sex marriage constitute an enormous step backwards in terms of equality, but it has also brought to the surface once again the division between the different minority groups in the United States.

What this demonstrates is not that a majority of African-Americans are homophobic or that many white homosexuals are racist, but that an issue like gay marriage can still profoundly divide people.
Not everything is lost in the battle for equality, but minorities should work together if they want real change to happen. Pointing fingers at each other and blaming the “others” for their failures will only perpetuate the unhealthy tension that exists now between them.

Fortunately, people from different minority groups are starting to realize that they need to seal this wound. In a letter addressed to the LGTB community, the members of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center say that blaming other minority groups for the passage of Proposition 8 “only serves to divide [their] community and hinder [their] ability to create a stronger and more diverse coalition to help [them] overturn Proposition 8 and restore full equality and human rights to LGBT people,” and that “there are many allied communities—straight, African-American, Asian Pacific Islander, Latino, Native American, white, people of faith, and secular people—who are energized to join with [them] as never before.”

African-American journalist Raymond Leon Roker also wrote in The Huffington Post about the importance of working together. “In the coming weeks, those of us who are standing against Proposition 8 — including, I’m sure, millions of blacks nationwide — are all going to need unity as we lobby, fight and advocate for either a reversal of this amendment or a new battle in 2010,” he said.

Gays and lesbians need to stop blaming blacks for what happened on Nov. 4. Instead, they need to reach out and form coalitions with other communities. They need to show blacks, Hispanics, and even Mormons that gay marriage is a civil rights issue that has nothing to do with religion. Most importantly, all Americans need to realize that if they really want change they need to stop living in a country of contradictions where an African-American can become president but two people who love each other can’t get married because they are of the same sex.

Marketing 101

Everything’s bigger in America; their burgers, their malls, their movie stars and, of course, their election day. Tuesday was a historical day for our southern neighbours. Not only did they elect the first African-American president in the history of their country, but they also had the highest voter turnout since 1908.

Sixty-four per cent of eligible voters showed up at the polls on Nov. 4, the equivalent of almost 137 million Americans. Meanwhile, three weeks ago only 59 per cent of eligible Canadian voters cast their vote in our federal election, marking a record-low voter turnout in Canadian history.

So why is it that while south of the border people voted in record numbers, we preferred to stay home and let someone else decide for us? It’s simple: Americans are good at marketing their products.

Like hamburgers and blue jeans, democracy is a product that needs proper marketing in order to work, and Americans understood that very well. It takes more than hanging posters from street signs and a lot of handshaking to get people excited about an election. While the Canadian campaign consisted of two debates, a few ads, and a lot of repetitive speeches, John McCain and Barack Obama attended popular talk-shows from The View to Saturday Night Live, bought prime-time television slots, and even had the support of stars like Oprah and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Both sides knew exactly who their target audience was, and they did everything they could to market their product. Only in America would a plumber become an overnight celebrity just because the candidates decided to make him a symbol of the average hard-working middle-class person. If Stephane Dion had found his personal Joe the plumber for instance, maybe he would have made a better job at selling his precious green plan.

There was a very important factor in last Tuesday’s record turnout: the youth vote was stronger than ever. Good marketers as they are, Americans did everything they could to get young people to vote. Many Hollywood stars participated in a campaign designed to attract young voters, and the candidates used innovative ways such as Facebook in order to get their message across. And it worked. As much as 54 per cent of eligible voters aged 18 to 29 cast their ballot on Nov. 4, a 19 per cent increase from 2004. In Canada young voters seemed to be more interested in what was going on south of the border than in voting for their prime minister.

It’s not a good sign when Canadians start getting more interested in American politics than in who we send to Ottawa. Maybe it’s time that we learn a thing or two from the Americans and start thinking about new ways to make our elections more appealing, particularly to young voters. After all, when a product isn’t selling well, there must be a change in the marketing strategy.