NAACP: Same-Sex Marriage is a Colored Thang
May 21, 2012
In what some are calling a largely symbolic gesture, today the NAACP endorsed same-sex marriage, labelling it a key civil rights struggle of today. Reports have characterized the organization's resolution for marriage equality as both a principled stance, and as a statement of support for President Obama's recent support of same-sex marriage. The NAACP endorsement has gained much media attention particularly in light of many inaccurate media reports that black communities are somehow more homophobic than general society.
While the NAACP's support for same-sex marriage fits in line with its principled position on equality generally, no one has highlighted the fact that the organization's stance furthers its goal of fulfilling the liberty interests of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Recently released Census 2010 data, analyzed by the UCLA School of Law at the Williams Institute, shows that same-sex couples are more likely to be interracial than heterosexual married couples. More than one in five same-sex couples (20.6%) are interracial or interethnic compared to just 9.5% of different-sex married couples According to the Williams Institute, almost a quarter of same-sex partners in the United States are people of color.
It is easy for some to forget that gays and lesbians are not all white. And when the NAACP supports the civil rights of gays and lesbians, it is also supporting the rights of gay and lesbian people of color--who are more than significantly represented in the population of same-sex couples. The NAACP's support of same-sex marriage furthers the liberty of a sizeable population of racial and ethnic minorities.
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