IS CALIFORNIA ANTI-GAY?

California was once known as a "liberal" State, right? However, the numbers suggest that it is becoming more conservative on two issues; namely same-sex relationships or marriage and abortion. One reason appears to be that over 27 percent of California was foreign born and bring a "non Californian" view, culture.

[This also explains the bad traffic in LA! :)]

Interesting? Is California becoming anti-gay?

Here are some "very approximate" polling numbers:

Abortion:

52 percent of White Americans appose
14 percent of White Americans think is should always be illegal
69 percent of Latinos appose
77 percent of Latinos born outside of the USA appose
24 percent of Latinos think is should always be illegal
29 percent of Latinos born outside of the USA think is should always be illegal
65 percent of African Americans appose
30 percent of African Americans think is should always be illegal [Wow!]


Same-Sex Relationships & Marriage

58 percent of White Americans appose
66 percent of Latinos appose
73 percent of Latinos born outside of the USA appose
81 percent of African Americans appose [Wow!!! Why is this? The very high poverty rates?]

The delegation numbers are still okay.

I need to do more research to determine the general Asian percentages. The numbers appear to be more conservative than White Americans, but this is still a work in progress.

Census numbers for CA in 2005

White Americans 44.5 percent
African Americans 6.8 percent
Asain Americans 12.1 percent
Latinos 34.7 percent

Fact Finder Census

Stanford

Do Californians even care? There was a time when California, and certain of its cities, took on the difficult issues in the pursuit of equality for its citizens. Now, only “safe” issues seem to be tackled by Californians. After all, it is safe to be against the war and it is safe to be pro immigrant. However, it is difficult to address issues such as the drugs crossing the border as a result of our immigration policies. And it is difficult to address same-sex marriage.

See this story about a recent NJ court holding. It should be noted that only MA recognizes the rights of gay individuals to marry. Also note that several federal statutes (such as the immigration statues) do not recognize MA’s same-sex marriage laws.

“. . . The ramifications of a same-sex couple not being able to legally marry are more than symbolic -- some 1,049 federal laws include marital status as a factor, according to a 1997 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office.

The types of rights and benefits for married couples that are denied to same-sex couples include property rights, health care benefits, child custody, immigration, inheritance and hospital visitation. . .”

There was a recent situation in which a US citizen was basically forced to leave the country if she wanted to stay with her spouse and an adopted child, as her same-sex spouse (married in MA), a legal immigrant, was denied permission to stay in the country longer. The citizen indicated that it is not worth fighting (on) to stay in a country that didn’t want them.

It is kind of perverse when a country turns its back on its own citizens, while simultaneously welcoming (non-gay) immigrants. This is some type of bizarre “o” world.

PBS

Student Journal

Another LA Story

UCLA School of Law

Maple