The Myth of Gays vs. Blacks

With depressing regularity, divisive and misleading rhetoric is dredged up whenever same-sex couples' right to marry is put to a legislative or popular vote — often exacerbating the false myth of a rift between gays and blacks.

The latest battleground for this alleged fight is Maryland, where legislators are expected to vote as early as Thursday on the right to marry. The passage of such a measure may trigger an effort to put the issue on the November ballot.

There is no reason for Maryland to follow in California's footsteps on this issue — extending to same-sex couples the right to marry, only to strip it away through a referendum such as Proposition 8. We can avoid that fate, and marriage advocates in Maryland have taken important steps to safeguard against such a setback.

The coalition of people working on behalf of this legislation has included African American leadership from the start, resulting in significant support among blacks that has involved testimony in favor of the bill before state Senate and House committees. Such outreach is essential in a state such as Maryland, where the African American population is double the national average and backing from blacks is vital for the bill to succeed in the legislature and to beat back any attempt to nullify that victory.

The Post reported recently that 53 percent of black voters in the state opposed the marriage-equality bill introduced by Gov. Martin O'Malley, D. Another recent survey, by Gonzales Research & Marketing Strategies Inc., concluded that support for marriage equality among black voters in Maryland has steadily declined over the past three months as the issue has gained prominence. The survey claimed that "opposition to same-sex marriage among African-American voters is what keeps the issue close in the state."

These numbers mask a much more complex, and hopeful, reality. Considered in historical context, the position of black voters on this issue has more to do with the way it has been discussed than with any entrenched opposition toward marriage equality. Reframing the way we talk about marriage for same-sex couples will reveal allies who these surveys suggest are unreachable.

No conversation about marriage — anyone's marriage — should happen without considering how African Americans have dealt for years with their own crisis. The decline of marriage among black couples has prompted a barrage of media attention on the high number of single black women, the role of black fathers and the future of black families.