Beginning in the late 1960’s and extending through the present day, the GOP reframed its racism, branding itself “conservative.” A word that once stood for small government came to stand for small minds that voted in large numbers. This new political deformity hid its hatred behind calls for “states rights” and “personal responsibility.” (To be fair, in the early days, many Democrats were also segregationists)

Notorious Republican dirty tricks artist, the late Lee Atwater, explained the party’s tactics.

“You start out in 1954 by saying, “N*****, n*****, n*****,” said Atwater. “By 1968 you can’t say ‘n*****’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.”

In a stunning repudiation of its recent history, the Republican Party elected Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele, who is African American, as its chairman. He defeated a repugnant, nose-holding cluster of clowns, including Katon Dawson, head of the South Carolina GOP, who had recently quit his membership in an all-white country club, and Chip Saltsman, the Tennessee party leader who handed out a Christmas CD that featured the song, “Barack the Magic Negro.”

Sure, it took more than five hours and six ballots for Steele to win. The outcome shows, however, that many GOP leaders understand that the party must change or face continued failure at the ballot box. Of course, Steele’s ascension does raise serious questions: Will white supremacists continue to support a party that is led by a black man? If they do exit the party, will a new, reformed GOP be able to attract enough new voters to replace them?

To answer the first question, former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke sent out a press release headlined, “To Hell with the Republican Party,” and said that, “GOP traitors appoint Obama Junior as Chairman of the Republican Party.”

Steele tried to answer the second question by saying, “We’re going to bring this party to every corner, every boardroom, every neighborhood, every community.”

Every community? Does this mean we should expect to see official GOP booths at Gay Pride?

The Stonewall Democrats don’t seem to think so. The group stressed that as Lt. Governor, “Steele made himself a public advocate for the Alliance for Marriage, a radical anti-marriage group which initiated efforts to pass a federal constitutional amendment to bar same-sex couples the freedom to marry.” In 2005, Steele also “headlined a ‘Defend Marriage Rally.’”

While this is not encouraging, it is clear that in its selection of Steele, the GOP was not simply looking to replace racism with homophobia by selecting the most anti-gay black candidate they could find. If that were the case, they could have chosen former Ohio Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, who once compared gay people to “arsonists and kleptomaniacs.”

So, it is clear that the GOP chose to embark upon a strategy to win back mainstream voters and Independents, rather than simply pander to the Bible thumping base.

The big question the mainstream media is afraid to ask is: Will Steele’s election sour the Party’s relationship with the Religious Right?

While most social conservatives are not racist, it would be naive to deny a connection exists. Indeed, a map of GOP strongholds is essentially a map of the old confederacy – which happens to be called “The Bible Belt.”

In 2001, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins addressed the Council of Conservative Citizens, which was formed as the successor organization to the White Citizens Council. The Nation magazine claimed that in 1996, Perkins paid David Duke $82,000 for use of his mailing list.

The most powerful man on the right is Rush Limbaugh, widely known for his racial insensitivity. And, let’s not forget the former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who stepped down from his leadership position after he was broadly criticized for toasting, a little too enthusiastically, the career of segregationist Strom Thurmond.

To rebuild the GOP, Steele will have to choose between the inclusive Big Tent and the intolerant Big Steeple. The religious right won’t accept a party that supports even modest rights for gay people, while moderate and younger voters will never trust a party that is anti-gay. The sooner Steele realizes that to get Republicans elected, social conservatives must be ejected from the party – the quicker he will be able to save the GOP.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was observed across the country on the weekend. African-Americans face the most severe rates of HIV infection in the nation.

The latest estimates indicate that while blacks make up just 12 percent of the U.S. population, they account for nearly half of new HIV infections and almost half of the more than one million Americans estimated to be living with HIV.

“The harsh reality is that one in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their lifetime, as will one in 30 black women,” said Dr. Kevin Fenton, Director, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.

Sixty-three percent of new infections among black men occur among men who have sex with men. Further, there are troubling signs of a worsening epidemic among young black MSM, as HIV diagnoses in this population have increased dramatically in recent years. Black women are also disproportionately affected by HIV, with infection rates 15 times as high as those of white women.

“To turn the tide, we all must continue to confront the realities of this disease in African-American communities,” said Fenton in a statement.

“While race itself does not increase risk, high prevalence of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in black communities means African-Americans face a greater risk of HIV infection with each sexual encounter than other groups. Stark realities of some African-Americans’ lives – including poverty and limited access to health care – increase the likelihood of HIV infection. Stigma and homophobia also contribute to keeping HIV alive in black communities.”

But Fenton also said that recent evidence shows there is progress being made.

“In a promising sign that prevention efforts are working, a major CDC study recently found that new infections among blacks have remained roughly stable for more than a decade – despite the growing number of people living with HIV who can potentially transmit the disease. New infections have also declined among several transmission groups in which African-Americans are disproportionately represented – babies born to HIV-infected mothers, intravenous drug users, and heterosexuals.”

Still, nearly 25,000 blacks still become infected with HIV every year.

In 2007, CDC spent $300 million – more than half of its domestic HIV prevention budget – on fighting HIV in African-American communities. And through the Heightened National Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis among African-Americans, CDC is working with black leaders and public health partners to expand the reach of existing prevention programs, develop new interventions and research, increase testing, and mobilize black communities.

“As a nation, we must recognize the HIV epidemic for the crisis that it is,” Fenton said. ” In our communities, we must work to confront the stigma that prevents too many of those at risk from seeking testing, treatment and support.”

Better Jennifer than me. Writing about the Proposition 8 vote and race is tiring because some people have weak reading comprehension skills. Ever since marriage rights were taken away in California, I’ve “learned” the following about myself: 1) I hate whites, 2) I think all white gays are racist, and 3) I’m an excuse maker when it comes to homophobia in the black community.

None of those truthiness ditties are true, but they have been thrown out here in the 365 neighborhood because I’ve questioned CNN’s exit poll that 70 percent of black California residents voted yes on Prop 8. Others have also pointed to the poll’s flaws, from numbers guru Nate Silver at 538.com to political analyst David Binder (who did polling for President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign). Ahh, but to point to these perspectives is just excuse making. My “brothers and sisters” (who knew Ma was so busy!)  screwed gays over. I’m a racist whose character is questionable.  Meh.

Yesterday’s released study by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute, written by Patrick J. Egan and Kenneth Sherrill, points out that a yes vote on Proposition 8 was mostly pushed by age, faith, and political perspective. The study mirrored Binder’s unofficial numbers that black support for Prop 8 was between 57-59 percent. This high support however makes sense when religion is factored in.

“…Controlling for frequency of religious attendance helps explain why African Americans supported Proposition 8 at higher levels than the population as a whole. Among Californians who attend worship at least weekly, support for Proposition 8 was nearly uniform across all racial and ethnic groups.”

This new study gives no one a pass. This new study gives no one a pass. Let the choir hear this for the last time from me: this new study gives no one a pass. Homophobia, no matter who espouses it, needs to be exposed for what it is: prejudice. However, we really can’t fight our enemies if we don’t know who they are or how to counteract their rhetoric. And yes Virginia there are going to be people with black faces who are anti-same sex marriage. Get over it and stop being shocked (shocked!) that some blacks sound like those whites back in the day wringing their hands over interracial marriage.

Mormons funded the measure – even though religious discrimination drove them from Missouri and Illinois in the 1830’s.

The defeat of Proposition 8 can’t be blamed exclusively on African Americans and Mormons. There were plenty of white Catholic and protestant religious leaders – such as pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church – that share responsibility.

And there are legitimate questions about how the No On 8 campaign was run, which will be endlessly debated. For example, did the campaign’s decision to closet gay people in its ads lead to defeat?

Still, there is something particularly galling and repugnant about people who have felt the sting of discrimination, turn around and step on another minority. What happened at the ballot box feels like a personal betrayal and the hijacking of history.

To the Mormons who bankrolled the bigotry, religious discrimination is awful, as long as it is happening to them. For the black people who voted for Proposition 8, the civil rights movement was about emancipating black people – and no one else seems to matter. These solipsistic individuals and their pastors appear to lack an ember of empathy and have turned freedom into a private fiefdom.

The civil rights movement was much larger than the plight of black people, just as the fight for religious freedom is bigger than Mormons. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that all people are equal under the law and should be judged by the content of their character. Barack Obama largely embodied this universally appealing message and this is why he made history. (His opposition to marriage was the one duly noted stain on his record)

The Congressional Black Caucus, the late Coretta Scott King, basketball star Charles Barkley and Archbishop Desmond TuTu are among those who share this inclusive vision. Coretta Scott King once said that, “Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.”

In the next campaign, this message needs to be taken directly to African-American voters. But before this happens, the GLBT community needs to have a serious discussion – not one that is pandering and patronizing – so we can figure out some solutions. When natural allies vote like enemies, there is much work to be done.

One person not to consult is black lesbian writer Jasmyne Cannick. In a hypocritical op-ed in the Los Angles Times, she said that the Prop 8 Campaign should have done more to reach out to black voters. Then she turned around and said, “to tell black people how to vote on something gay isn’t effective outreach either. There’s nothing a white gay person can tell me when it comes to how I as a black lesbian should talk to my community about this issue.”

This is a perversion of Dr. King’s dream. A white person should be able to talk freely to a black person about discrimination and vice versa. Cannick’s ideas are abhorrent and the antithesis of judging a person by their ideas or the content of their character. It is also shameful that Cannick claims that she went door-to-door on behalf of Obama and proudly refused to ask African-Americans to vote against Proposition 8. Her actions were closeted and cowardly.

Cannick also asks, “Does someone who is homeless or suffering from HIV but has no healthcare, or newly out of prison and unemployed, really benefit from the right to marry someone of the same sex?”

Imagine how grotesque it would have been in 1965 if a black person had written:

“Does someone who is homeless or suffering from cancer but has no healthcare, or newly out of prison and unemployed, really benefit from the right to marry someone of a different race?”

Another way to stop progress is for those hurt by this stinging defeat to verbally or physically assault African Americans. There were reports that this was occurring at rallies condemning Prop. 8. Mirroring the ugly actions of anti-gay haters is anathema to what our movement stands for, which is widening the circle of liberty. We need to be smart, rational grownups and not look for scapegoats.

There is a lot of blame to go around for the failure of Proposition 8 and the first step to healing and moving forward is honesty. Let’s not pretend that the repudiation of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream by African American voters did not hurt more than, say, rejection by white evangelicals. It did.

Equal rights for some, or at least those who look the same or hold like beliefs – is not the movement I signed up for, nor is it one that I want any part of.

In moving forward, we must move beyond pig-headed parochialism and build a coalition that embraces a universal set of principles that apply to all people. If we stupidly divide ourselves by sexual orientation or race – we can only expect a race to the bottom.