Obama supporters crucial to Prop. 8

SAN JOSE, Calif. (MCT) — Even as African-American and Latino voters were a powerful force in boosting America's first black president to victory, in California they also were crucial to passing Proposition 8, a ballot measure labeled, "Eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry."

Exit polls showed that 70 percent of black voters, and a majority of Latino voters, voted yes on Proposition 8, one likely reason why the measure won a slim majority in Los Angeles County, where pre-election polls had suggested it would lose, even though it lost by a huge margin in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Rev. Amos Brown might have foreseen Proposition 8's victory. As Brown preached Sunday to his congregation that they should be mindful of everyone's civil rights when they voted on same-sex marriage this week, a church member tried to wrestle away the microphone, agitated that the preacher was discussing gay marriage in the black church.

Gloria Nieto had a sense of those demographic forces, too. When Nieto, a lead organizer for the No on Proposition 8 campaign in San Jose, wanted to distribute campaign signs in Spanish and Vietnamese this fall, she had to get them made herself because the statewide campaign only had signs in English.

Those may have been two hints that Proposition 8 was headed for Tuesday's clear 5-point victory. The measure was one of the most popular on Tuesday's ballot, its 5.4 million yes votes helped — not hindered, as many had predicted — by the large turnout to vote for Barack Obama.

Wednesday was a day of rejoicing for the supporters of Proposition 8, a day of worry for the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who married between June 16 and Election Day — and a day of legal threats to get those marriages nullified or the new constitutional ban thrown out.

But it was also a day to ponder how the major statewide polls had been so wrong to suggest that a big Obama win would doom Proposition 8.

"To be honest with you, we were kind of fearing that a great outcome for Obama would mean a defeat on Proposition 8, but we found out that African-American people, they are very conservative," said the Rev. Nestor Morales, a San Jose pastor who helped organize Bay Area churches to raise money for Yes on 8 ads in Spanish. "We found a lot of Democrats voting for Obama and voting yes for Proposition 8. Even Latinos, a lot of Latinos that voted for Obama, they also voted yes on Proposition 8."