Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: A closer look at the New York marriage poll numbers
While Albany dithers, there is something going on in the rest of the state. As we reported yesterday, according to a Quinnipiac University poll a slim majority of New Yorkers now support legalizing gay marriage. This is an uptick from approximately a month ago, where the same pollsters showed New York voters evenly split on the topic.
Under the headlines, however, there are numbers that need to be talked about. Mainly because it shows what can be done if you don’t follow the playbook of those who ran the “No on 8″ campaign. Black New Yorkers split with 43 percent in favor and 42 percent opposed; 55 to 39 percent from Hispanics. This is a marked improvement from the last poll when black voters were opposed to marriage rights 57 to 35 percent.
There are a number of factors worth talking about and it would be unfair to say one or two were key. It’s worth noting the opposition is weak and disorganized and all they can muster is the occasional rhetorical flame from state Senator Ruben Diaz. Second marriage advocates in New York have been putting the seeds down in Albany for sometime, taking the slow steps to change the minds of politicians (or doing the work to get some pols out of office). And making sure the brown and black voices are involved in the conversation.
I’m too old to be lulled by a poll and if New York passes same sex marriage tomorrow (who knows how the Albany Senate will end its session) everything could change. Nor do I think this means black homophobia has declined; however, I know this; Washington, D.C., a predominately black city, has come out for gay marriage and right now a small majority of black New Yorkers feel the same. Those of you who got off on the racial angle after the Prop 8 vote and left racial drive-by messes here (my perosnal fav are those who descrbed how they marched next to MLK and now feel sooooooo betrayed) have been silent on all of this. Too old to be shocked by that.
Glad to see this information. Many thanks James!
And I’m sorry to see some comments that to me seem racist. I hope we can learn to live together better.
You know, it’s time to change the conversation about marriage in this country. I got married in Indiana this past weekend. That’s right Indiana, is it legal here? That depends on how you look at it. Indiana does not acknowledge our wedding, but the police did not come and take us away in chains for performing the ceremony. We were wed in a state park, because the price was right and we could do our own food and alcohol. Everyone I have talked to has congratulated me, my office pitched in and bought my husband and I a gift card as a wedding present. Socially speaking I am married. I consider my wedding like a country that the dominant world powers have not yet accepted the sovereignty of. Note the grammar there. The acceptance does not grant sovereignty, it accepts that it was already there. We need to start getting married in states where it is not legal. We need to have the parties, invite the people, create the families. We need to make the present tense of our marriages part of the debate. Think our marriages will create the downfall of society? Well then get your hard hats because benefits or not they’re already here. It’s time to take what is ours, and then demand the rest, it’s time to take control of the language of the debate. Screw “legalizing” same sex marriage. That phrasing makes it very clear that the government has the power to stop us from marrying. That is a lie, and an insidious one. There are countries where the government has nothing to do with marriage, and people are still married all the time, it is the culture and society that provide the support after the blessed event. Well our society and culture can do the same thing. Make the arguments against us mute by creating a world where what they are warning everyone against is already here. It’s time.