Reverend Dr. Jacqueline Lewis
Senior Minister
Middle Collegiate Church
New York, New York

How tragic that Californians repealed the law they passed allowing same-sex marriage. CNN’s first exit polling data indicated that 70% of African Americans voted in support of the proposition, allowing for Blacks in America to be scapegoated for the result. Since then, the poll has been criticized for, among other things, too small a sample size and too simple an analysis.

But the damage has already been done.

According to a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, majorities of Hispanics (61%), voters without a college degree, and those age 55 and older backed the measure, which passed by a 4-point margin (52 % yes, 48% no). The survey, which polled 2,003 voters from November 5 to 16, found that Evangelical or born-again Christians (85 %) were far more likely than others (42 %) to vote yes.

Three in four Republicans (77%) voted yes, two in three Democrats (65%) voted no, and independents were more closely divided (52% yes, 48 % no). Voters without a college degree (62 %) were far more likely than college graduates (43%) to vote yes. Eighty-five percent of those who supported Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain voted yes, compared to 30% of those who backed President-elect Barack Obama. Recall that Obama received 96% of all of the Black vote nationally, some 13% of the electorate.

Maybe Blacks were given too much credit in the CNN poll for passing this proposition.  Maybe there is a reason, though, to give us credit. It is a fascinating strategy, really, to pit the African -American community against the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex  (LGBTI) community. Divide-and-conquer has been known to work. Someone writes that blacks and Jews have difficulty getting along, and that myth survives despite how closely we worked together in the civil rights era. Perhaps their strategy is to just say that blacks are against gays, and see if that sticks, too.

Of course, part of the reason black folk are easily criticized for bigotry against gays is that historically, the so-called black church has been slow to respond to the civil rights of the LGBTI community. The black church, like the so-called Evangelical churches, has been preoccupied with all things sexual. It is as though we must have control over something. We can’t really control the systemic racism that wreaks havoc in the lives of black folk.

We can’t really control the ways centuries of bigotry have led to a wide economic, health, and education gap between blacks and their white counterparts. Turning a sharp gaze on the sexuality of congregants might feel like a pretty powerful posture to fearful clergy.

To be sure, I am drawing with broad strokes and in all fairness; there are many black congregations whose ethos includes liberation and social justice for all peoples, including those in the LGBTI communities. But there are not enough. So just like any stereotype has a bit of truth, the myth that the black church does not support gays has some truth as well.

How do we move forward from here? We search the scriptures with a keen and living hermeneutic that testifies to the fact that God is still speaking. Were it not so, I, an African- American clergy woman, could not be a pastor in a multiracial congregation. Were it not so, was the revelation of God’s will for God’s people not an ongoing process, we might still be slaves, I might still be silent, children would still be little more than chattel. God is still speaking and we need to listen with open ears and learn with open hearts.

Sexuality is a gift from God. Loving couples ought to be able to make a commitment to one another and live a life together and be joined in the midst of a congregation—to be married.  It is a civil right and I think it is a holy right.

The black church can, as she has in the past, be a leader in the struggle, or get out of the way. I am for the former.

*From the Editors: View more opinions on this topic