Proposition 8: What Went Wrong? Plenty

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Here's an interesting postmortem on the failed campaign to defeat California's Proposition 8, which rolled back marriage equality by placing a ban on same-sex marriage into the Golden State's constitution. What went wrong? A lot, apparently, including bland, focus-group-generated messaging.

Other insider critiques have noted a decentralized campaign structure that insisted on consensus among a group leadership, thus playing into the left's deference to anti-hierarchical organization but leaving no one with ultimate "buck stops here" responsibility - and an organization that was in no sense nimble, and unable to respond to rapidly changing developments on the ground.

More on what went wrong can be found here.

5 Comments for “Proposition 8: What Went Wrong? Plenty”

  1. posted by ILoveCapitalism on

    Hahne’s article is great.

    Here’s how I sum up No On 8’s basic problem. A marriage license from the State isn’t a right, it’s a legislative construct. Instead of lecturing people about rights or fairness, gay marriage advocates need to reach out to skeptics and *explain why gay marriage is good for society*. When society-at-large understands that gay marriage is good for society, gay marriage will pass.

    I know a lot of important efforts have already been made in the direction I propose. Unfortunately, the No On 8 campaign didn’t make them. They “hid the gay”, which meant they hid the positive case for voting FOR gay marriage. All in the name of focus groups and (alleged) superior political sophistication.

  2. posted by Bobby on

    Hey Stephen, notice how nobody has posted anything? Post some other topic, something OTHER than same-sex marriage. Please! It’s getting boring!

  3. posted by ILoveCapitalism on

    P.S. And yes, an ad showing gay or lesbian couples raising their kids (as suggested by Hahne at one point) is “explaining why gay marriage is good for society”. In pictures rather than words, it would have made the point that gay marriage contributes to society’s future: the grand work of raising the next generation.

    If any reader happens to read that and think “Ugh, pandering to breeders” or “That’s way too assimilationist” – well, yeah, your mentality would be a big part of why gay marriage has lost in 30 states, and a mentality that I as a gay person want nothing to do with.

  4. posted by Frankie on

    I was involved in the Stop 8 camapign, albeit only at a local level and far down the ‘food chain’, as it were. Here is what I saw;

    * Bitter and constant fighting between gay Democrats and Republicans over State races and McCain/Obama.

    * The pro-side targeted religious social conservatives and *centrists *, while we seemed to be — with less money — going after progressives and libertarians.

  5. posted by TS on

    “A marriage license from the State isn’t a right, it’s a legislative construct”

    THANK YOU Ilovecapitalism- nobody anywhere on either side! seemed to understand this.

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