By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade
Nov 19 2008, 5:20 PM |
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San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom criticized two top political figures
this week for failing to take a more active role in the fight against
a state constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage in
California.
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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