Politics is one of my favorite sports. I covered the Texas Legislature as a reporter and editor for more than 20 years. Then I went to work in the Legislature as a legislative aide for one state representative and as chief of staff for another. Both were Democrats and both were women. One was white, the other black. So I have seen more than my share of how it all works and it ain't pretty.
Any election, whether it is a person running for office or a proposition on the ballot, takes a lot of work long before election day. I am always a bit amazed at how we, as a community, tend to ignore the work necessary to elect the folks we want, pass the proposals we support or defeat the ones that are onerous to us.
What I saw in the passage of Proposition 8 was a campaign that seemed poorly organized with little thought about where to focus in order to defeat the measure. I suspected the opposition would come from the African American and Hispanic communities. Having had relationships with both black and Hispanic men, I know from our conversations and their stories of growing up queer in those communities that both communities would be resistant to gay marriage.
Yet we, as a community, rather naively and blithely believe those two communities will support us because of the history of discrimination and violence they have suffered. Understand that both communities are strongly based in religions that teaches homosexuality is a sin. Like it or not, that is the cold, hard truth. And those good folks will vote their faith first.
Unless...
Unless we reach out and go to them and sit down with them face to face, all the protests and demonstrations and hate mongering we stir up will count for nothing and will, as John McCain can attest, likely result in a backlash against us. I am heartened to see so many take to the streets to march for what we believe. Where were we before the election when that same energy could have defeated Prop 8?
The work, carefully planned and executed, has to come months before Election Day. It is intense work, one on one work, work that would have sent Prop 8 down in flames had we been willing to take the time and trouble to place ourselves in the Hispanic and African American communities and talked to them.
When I talk to another person and I ask them about their experiences with discrimination and violence, when I listen intently to what they have to say and respect their beliefs and fears, a dialog opens between us and, in that moment, I am much more able to relate to them and see their side. Having laid that groundwork, I am more likely to bring them around to see the discrimination and violence practiced against me and my community. We share common ground and once we both recognize that, my task of bringing them to my way of thinking becomes much easier.
That type of intense, one on one, campaigning takes time and patience. It requires me to put aside my prejudices and anger and engage them on a very intimate level so that I understand their fears and am able to communicate my own. My experience is that 95 percent of the time, they will respond. Will they vote to support me? I can't answer that. I do know, however, they are much more likely to support me than if I get in their face and tell them they are bigots.
I only wish that half the intensity and energy our community expended protesting Prop 8's passage in the past few days had been spent in the months and weeks and days before the election. Had we done so, we would not be having this discussion now.
