For gay Democrats, the election was a landslide that swept them up one moment and buried them the next. Enthusiasm for Barack Obama’s victory was overwhelming, especially after eight years of a conservative president who, at times, made gays Public Enemy No. 1. But then the results from Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that nullified the state’s recently declared right of same-sex marriage, came rolling in, and it became clear that one of the country’s most solidly blue states was about to give same-sex marriage the heave-ho.
Now the gay community supports African American candidates, supports civil rights, and what happens? They treat us the same way the country once treated them.
This unusual confluence of events has created a near-perfect study in what happens when minority groups are pitted against one another. As you can see from peeking in on gay and lesbian internet message boards, white gay people are railing against the socially conservative black vote that came out for Obama and may have boosted Proposition 8. Black gays, in turn, are accusing their white gay peers of viscous racism. On one message board on the gay blog Queerty, the conflict is unfolding in real-time. Here are a few excerpts.
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