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Newsom criticizes Obama, Schwarzenegger over Prop 8
San Francisco mayor calls for greater outreach to black voters

By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade | Rebecca Armendariz | Nov 19, 5:20 PM

Newsom, in an interview Wednesday with the Blade, said President- elect Barack Obama (D) and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) did not provide enough help in the campaign against the measure, known as Proposition 8.

When asked whether they could have been more helpful, Newsom said, “The answer is unequivocally yes” and that “you can’t for a moment be surprised.”

“I think they would be the first to say that ‘no, we didn’t do much at all,’” he said.

But Newsom said Schwarzenegger deserves credit for coming out against Proposition 8 in April and Obama should be recognized for doing so in June.

“I don’t want to completely minimize their involvement,” Newsom said, “but were they advocates of opposition? No. Did they want to particularly talk about the issue of marriage equality? Absolutely not.”

Newsom said Obama and Schwarzenegger’s lack of involvement was “arguably not” good for their political futures.

While critical of Obama and Schwarznegger, Newsom urged supporters of same-sex marriage to avoid criticizing minority groups that voted in favor of Proposition 8. He called for greater outreach to those groups to win their future support.

“The most unfortunate thing that could happen is people pointing fingers, blaming individuals, or more alarmingly, groups of individuals,” he said.

He said the most “disconcerting thing that’s happened” following the passage of Proposition 8 is “members of our broader community being attacked as culprits — particularly the African-American community.”

“I don’t think we can blame a community for not voting with us when we didn’t ask for their vote, necessarily,” he said. “There wasn’t a level of outreach into the African-American churches — perhaps there could have been. If you don’t ask for something, you shouldn’t be surprised if people don’t give it.”

Newsom said the black community “is an ally of the gay and lesbian community naturally” and that gays need to “broaden the dialogue” with the blacks on same-sex marriage.

Newsom, who said he did not want to criticize the “No on 8” campaign, said one lesson learned from the fight against the amendment was that “we shouldn’t take any votes for granted, including … people of faith.”

He said it was a sign of progress, though, that in 2000, 61 percent of California voters backed Proposition 22, the statutory initiative to ban same-sex marriage, while only 52 percent of voters approved Proposition 8 this year.

“We have made progress and we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.

Visit washingtonblade.com Thursday for more from the Newsom interview.

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