Leave it to the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force to brag that "Gay, lesbian and bisexual people"were among the most ardent opponents of recalling Governor Gray Davis," as NGLTF put in a post-election press release. Here's a reality check: 42% of gay voters favored recalling Gray Davis, and some 32% of gays voted for Schwarzenegger (plus 4% for the other Republican, Tom McClintock). In a state that's overwhelmingly Democratic, Schwarzenegger and McClintock between them got 60% of the overall vote, including an unexpectedly high number of women, union members, and Hispanic voters. So what does NGLTF think it gains by claiming we're a steadfastly liberal-left voting bloc that's happy to be out of step with mainstream voters?
Skewed News.
The popular website gay.com delivers its own perspective on the news. The story "Rights Groups Hail Defeat Of Anti-Gay Prop" refers to California's Proposition 54, which would have barred the state from collecting racial data on individuals in most circumstances (it was conceived by Ward Connerly, an African-American business leader opposed to race-based preferences). Gay.com reports, however, that the measure was "anti-gay" since "It would have disproportionately affected lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of color" ." By that logic, I suppose that tax increases are also "anti-gay" because they confiscate a higher proportion of LGBT taxpayers' income, but you won't see that argument on gay.com!
Also, gay.com's report on "How Gays
Voted," which draws heavily on the NGLTF's press release,
somehow fails to mention that 32% of the gay vote went to Arnold.
Sadly, this type of bias is all too common in much of the gay
media.