Worth reading-and pondering: the two political consultants who steered anti-gay-marriage Proposition 8 to victory in California, Frank Schubert and Jeff Flint, explain candidly how they did it. Some points of note:
1) The "yes" side won because it set the terms of the argument. By focusing on education and gay marriage supporters' (alleged) arrogance, they defined the battle as being about gay intolerance (ramming SSM down schools' and voters' throats) instead of about tolerance of gays. The anti-8 side never effectively responded. Instead it denounced the "yes" ads as unfair.
2) A decisive moment toward the end-"the break of the election"-was an own-goal that the pro-gay side scored against itself. "In what may prove to be the most ill-considered publicity stunt ever mounted in an initiative campaign, a public school in San Francisco took a class of first graders to City Hall to witness the wedding of their lesbian teacher. And they brought along the media." Yes-as Schubert does not say-the field trip was egregiously misrepresented by the pro-8 forces. But it was an own-goal nonetheless.
3) The pro-8 forces were so sure that the antis' effort to portray opponents of same-sex marriage as bigots and discriminators would backfire that they didn't even bother to respond. They were right.
I've been arguing for some time that we will not win marriage by dismissing opponents as haters and contrary arguments as proof of bigotry. We must make a positive case and respond frankly and respectfully to opponents' qualms. We must be prepared for the obvious attacks, instead of believing that justice will prevail. Above all, we must not talk to the voters as if we were entitled to their support ("Don't put rights up to a vote," etc., etc.). If you don't believe me...ask Frank Schubert.
9 Comments for “Why We Lost Prop 8…”
posted by TS on
They totally owned us. How nice of them to tell us how. But I doubt anyone but us is paying attention to those “evil mongering discriminating bastards.”
Why do so many great modern political strategies involve the religious right?
posted by Carl on
“Why do so many great modern political strategies involve the religious right?”
Like helping their party lose control of most levels of government?
The amendment barely passed in a state with a huge swathe of conservative voters, after the anti-8 side ran a horrible campaign. I don’t believe that this was due to brilliance from the Yes on 8 side. They used the same generic fear tactics which have been used since the days of Anita Bryant. The problem is that we will always give those behind these “victories” huge amounts of credit. Like the acres of newsprint spent on Karl Rove for eking out victories in 2000 and 2004. I don’t really care about what geniuses they’re supposed to be. They won. More power to them. Now let’s figure out how we can get a message out.
“I’ve been arguing for some time that we will not win marriage by dismissing opponents as haters and contrary arguments as proof of bigotry. We must make a positive case and respond frankly and respectfully to opponents’ qualms.”
We tend to be more likely to fret over any negative thing that any member of the gay community does. Post prop-8 much time on websites like IGF has been spent talking about how wrong gays are for supporting Obama/not being close enough to Republicans/protesting prop 8/boycotting people who donated big money to prop 8 that any actual strategy has taken a backseat. The gay community is often much more eager to second, third, fourth, and fifth guess ourselves than to work on solutions.
We also tend to hope that if we’re a little bit nicer and more polite, then we will get some acceptance. When that doesn’t happen, then we just spend more time talking about how wrong we were and if we’re just a little nicer, then things will be different next time. The religious right never takes that tack. They just push forward no matter what.
posted by Bobby on
“I’ve been arguing for some time that we will not win marriage by dismissing opponents as haters and contrary arguments as proof of bigotry.”
—Exactly, but modern leftists hates debate. When the New York Post ran a politically incorrect cartoon there where protestors with signs that said “Jail Rupert Murdoch.” When the Minuteman are invited to speak at a college campus radicals get on stage and shout them down.
That’s why some democrats want to pass the fairness doctrine, they want to silence dissent in talk radio, one of the few places where conservative and independent voices can be heard.
Hugo Chavez did the same in Venezuela, he passed laws where ridiculing the president is a crime and his minions will harass any opposition journalists. Obama already told republicans not to listen to Rush Limbaugh.
Luckily, America remains a democracy, and the more you shout “homophobe” at your opponents, the more they shall win. Don’t blame the religious right for your own self-destruction, the religious right doesn’t even have to lie about you anymore, all they have to do is bring a camera to a gay rally, film a christian getting his plastic cross stolen and stomped on the ground, and they’ll have recruiting footage more effective than any lie.
posted by Amicus on
It is time to put Proposition 8 in the past and starting working on strategies to repeal the law.
When the Knight Amendment passed, the margin was 58-42. In 2008, the margin was less than four percent. Younger voters supported gay marriage, older voters opposed. As older voters die off, to put it bluntly, their replacements will most likely be supporters of gay marriage.
Supporters of gay marriage must figure out how to reach voters who live inland — in places such as Fresno, Modesto, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, Riverside, etc.
Not every supporter of gay marriage lives in San Francisco or Santa Cruz or Silver Lake, Hillcrest or Santa Monica.
Secondly, supporters of gay marriage find a way to reach Hispanic and African-American voters. These voting blocks were either ignored or completely written off. BIG MISTAKE.
An even bigger mistake was writing off Religious voters. Believe it or not, there were Mormon and Catholic and other people of faith who supported gay marriage. Still not enought was done to reach out to these voters.
In the future, there will be dissertation examining all that happened with Proposition Eight. The important thing are to learn from the mistakes made, organize key voting blocks, start collecting stories.
Don’t get discouraged. Don’t lose heart. Keep you eye on the goal. Think how far everyone has come and how close the goal is.
posted by TS on
Amicus, this isn’t a law. It is now a principle under which the state of CA is governed. There is no “strategy” or “repeal.” Only another amendment cancelling it. Not to mention that the whole point of this article was to illustrate how shockingly amoral “strategy” is as a political tool.
Bobby, you’re right to say a lot of repressive people work toward liberal causes. But Obama (I’m not a fan, recall) in recommending an opponent not be listened to, was just stating his opinion. When you disagree with me, whether I say it or not, my hope is that people will listen to me and not to you. (Also, the fairness doctrine issue is more nuanced than your recitation of the party line captures. I and most people are against bringing it back. But, interestingly, that only conservative t.r. would be affected just goes to show that liberal leaning journalism [typically more professionalistic] usually does at least state the controversy and summarize what opponents are saying for every story or issue, while a failure to even make that concession of controversy is more typical of conservative media.)
Carl, I disagree. They were brilliant. And you’re right to point out that they’re currently ripping apart the GOP, but that wasn’t my point. My point is that even though some estimates have up to 20% of Americans as unbelievers, they are politically unorganizable. No great political strategy ever mastered the gay, highly educated, or urban poor vote, despite those groups seemingly having a lot to gain from the political process. It just seems to me that the religious right are especially easily herded by tacticians in US politics.
posted by Carl on
“Carl, I disagree. They were brilliant. And you’re right to point out that they’re currently ripping apart the GOP, but that wasn’t my point. My point is that even though some estimates have up to 20% of Americans as unbelievers, they are politically unorganizable. ”
There are many right wing pieces of legislation which are defeated at the ballot box. There are also politicians who are put into office because of help from that 20%. Gay legislation is less likely to be defeated, but even that happens sometimes, like with the Briggs Amendment.
“It just seems to me that the religious right are especially easily herded by tacticians in US politics.”
The #1 reason this passed was because of Mormons. LDS worked tirelessly on this bill. The religious right on its own? Terri Schiavo. Sarah Palin. Running such excessive purity tests that the party now has the most extreme face it has had in many decades.
I’m not going to disagree that this was a smart campaign, but I’m also not going to see this as a difficult goal. Many people remain afraid of gays, and even if they aren’t afraid of us, they don’t see any harm in banning gay marriage. It’s something they can use to feel better about their own lives. They always have us to feel superior to. That’s what we have to work on. Changing minds. When we focus on how formidable the other side is, then we are more likely to believe nothing we can say or do will make a difference.
posted by Bobby on
“The #1 reason this passed was because of Mormons. LDS worked tirelessly on this bill.”
—How typical, blame the mormons but not the blacks or hispanics who voted OVERWHELMINGLY for gay marriage and who represent much larger numbers than mormons.
posted by Alanmt on
In my opinion, the main reason prop 8 passed is because it was viewed, thanks to the existing civil union laws, as merely a battle over the name marriage, and not otherwise substantively affecting any rights of gay couples. This made it palatable for moderate conservatives and fair minded but traditional religious people, who could vote for it without feeling like they were actually discriminating.
posted by Carl on
“—How typical, blame the mormons but not the blacks or hispanics who voted OVERWHELMINGLY for gay marriage and who represent much larger numbers than mormons.”
LDS gave huge amounts of money and manpower to this cause. Why wouldn’t they get most of the blame (or as they probably see it, most of the credit)?
“In my opinion, the main reason prop 8 passed is because it was viewed, thanks to the existing civil union laws, ”
California only has domestic partnership laws. I’m not even sure how long they’ll have those.