Just two weeks ago, Barack Obama became the President-elect of the United States of America. And in a twist of fate California's notorious Proposition 8 also passed, effectively banning same-sex marriages in the Golden State. While similar anti-gay measures were passed in Florida, Arizona, and Arkansas, the California decision has stung our community the most.
In the past fourteen days there has been much finger-pointing as to who is truly responsible for getting this measure to pass. At first socially conservative African-Americans and Latino Americans were singled out for voting for a progressive presidential candidate while supporting this oppressive ballot question. Recently, The Church of Latter-Day Saints have been bearing much of the brunt after The New York Times revealed that significant Mormon donations may have tipped the scales. The outcry by the American gay community has been enormous. Perhaps some of you readers participated in the nationwide protests last weekend; it was queer mobilization to a scale not seen since Stonewall.
Nevertheless, one group remains relatively free from the Prop 8 backlash -- Asian-Americans (yes, that's us too). In the weeks leading to November 4th, The South Asian Journalist Association published that a majority of South Asians were against a ban on gay marriages. The South Asian Bar Association even endorsed NO on Prop 8, while the South Asian Network's director, Hamid Khan, spoke out against the measure as well.
Prop 8 Map -- The Los Angeles Times
Asian-American Population Map -- US Census Bureau
NO on Prop 8 Poster courtesy of thaths on Flickr
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2 comments:
I KNEW OUR SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY WOULD KICK ASS... i read some where i forgot where but many desi's were against prop 8 :D ... show's who kicks ass!
the media seems to lump all minorities together (blacks, latinos, south asians, etc) when they state that all minorities voted for prop 8. nice to know that desis are not as old-fashioned as i thought.
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