Our post-election analysis for EBONY. The Black vote and "Maryland Voters Approve Same Sex Marriage Law":
The shift also marks a change in demographics. Both sides targeted African-American voters —"who were expected to make up 25 percent of the state electorate Tuesday," reports the Baltimore Sun. Black voters tend to be more religious and have historically have been slow to accept gay marriage. But national and regional polling has suggested that Black support for equal marriage has dramatically increased after President Obama and the NAACP's historic announcements supporting the position.
Nowhere was the battle for Question 6 fiercer than in suburban Prince George’s County—more than 65% Black and home to the nation’s largest Black middle class. PGC also boasts a sizeable and affluent Black LGBT population similar to that found in the adjacent District of Columbia.
Question passed with a "nearly 2-to-1 lead" in the neighboring largely White and upscale Montgomery County but "trail[ed] slightly in Prince George’s," reports the Washington Post. The unofficial tally in PGC was "131,619 votes for and 137,626 votes against." Blacks were split almost evenly on the measure.
"We’re ecstatic that Question 6 passed. We want our love to be acknowledged and cannot wait to get married," ShaDonna Jackson told EBONY.com last night. Jackson and her partner Lakisha Smith will celebrate their fifth anniversary in March. They are both Black—just like Tonya Parker and her partner—and live in PGC’s Hyattsville.
Read the full article HERE.
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