Prop 8 - Why we lost!

This is an interesting article regarding how we lost the 'message' during the campaign. It's written by the firm from the 'Yes' team. (http://politicsmagazine.com/magazine-issues/february-2009/passing-prop-8) It's obvious that we had the advantage at the start of the campaign when the California Supreme Court ruled that gays were a protected class and thus able to get marry. The public was with us with the polling in mid-September showing 55%  voters against Prop 8.  By deciding to let voters vote 'Yes'  on the issue is a disadvantage itself as voters are known to vote no on most issues owing to the lack on understanding on the propositions. So how did our campaign got out strategized then?

Well firstly i would say many of us were overconfident. I talked to many people in the Bay Area and i can't even remember anyone saying that we could lose. Maybe this is the cultural difference that exists between NorthCal and SoCal. Though the post-election polls showed that 70% of African American, 56% of Latinos, and 49% of Asians voted Yes on Prop 8, approximately over 2/3rd of minorities in NorthCal voted against Prop 8. Now we have supporters saying that we'll put another proposition on the ballot legalizing gay marriage and we'll win in the next election. They have to realize that the demographics in California is changing. Hispanics are now about 46% of the population and will soon become the majority in the near future. Hispanics are also mostly Catholics and overall more socially conservative. We have to have majority of them supporting our cause to win. More organization to expand our message to Hispanics ought to be done. Else our only choice is to wait till 2020 where hopefully the next generation of young voters will be more socially liberal.

Our camp realized that we were losing when the proponents of Prop 8 started bringing children and education as their forefront issue. This was where our message got lost. Our team was slow to response. Besides that, many of our volunteers were out of state working in Obama's team. The gay community were busy preparing their marriages due to fear that Prop 8 would win. Well they got that right. The enourmous turn out of the AA community didn't help our cause. It's sad to see that the AA community see being gay as an optional activity and not as a civil right issue. Even the NAACP was not willing to take a stand till after the election. Of course many blamed our organizers for screwing up the campaign but that's the placing the blame elsewhere. There is no such thing as a campaign without error. I'm sure if we had won the other side will be blaming the Mormon church for being involved!

There is one lesson to be learnt from this defeat and that is civil rights is never granted. You'll get it only when you fight for it.