Thread: Obama's Gay Marriage Shift Energizes Immigration Activists

Obama's Gay Marriage Shift Energizes Immigration Activists

Published May 15, 2012

Fox News Latino

Gay pride participants support Barack Obama at the 38th annual LA Pride Parade June 8, 2008 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
Obama Gay Marriage Latinos 2.jpg

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – President Barack Obama's shift to support gay marriage has highlighted an alliance growing across the country between immigration reform and gay activists, helping dispel what some say is an outdated notion that Hispanics are less tolerant of gays than the general public. Meanwhile conservative Hispanics see the president's endorsement of same-sex marriage as an opportunity to draw Latinos to the Republican Party.

Obama's announcement has energized young Latino voters who have been working side-by-side with gay activists in their push for immigration reform.

"My members are telling me that we need to learn from the gay community," said Dee Dee García Blase, founder of the Phoenix-based Somos Republicans. She is now head of the Tequila Party, which she formed last year with the goal of registering young Hispanics to vote for immigration-friendly candidates like Obama.

"We need to take a lesson from the (lesbian and gay) community with regard to being that loud, squeaky wheel that gets fixed," Blase said. "We need to be more aggressive, and we realize it."

Both the Democratic and Republican parties are focused heavily on winning the Hispanic vote, not just because it holds the key to battleground states but because Latinos make up the fastest-growing minority group. The government projects Hispanics will account for roughly 30 percent of the population by 2050, doubling in size and boosting their political power. Some 600,000 young Hispanics who were born in the U.S. turn 18 each year to enter a widening pool of more than 21 million Hispanic eligible voters.

The immigrant rights movement is grounded on advocating with the most oppressed out of our community, and in many cases, that has been queer undocumented youth.

- Juan Rodríguez, Florida Immigrant Coalition

According to a 2007 religion survey of U.S. Latinos by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, two-thirds of Hispanics said their religious beliefs are an important influence on their political thinking. While more than two-thirds of Hispanics identified themselves as Roman Catholic, 15 percent said they were born-again Protestants. Evangelical Latinos, who cite Biblical teaching for their stance against homosexuality, are twice as likely as those who are Catholic to vote Republican.

But a poll released in April 2011 by the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights advocacy organization, and Social Science Research Solutions, a public opinion research firm, indicated that while 66 percent of those surveyed identified as Roman Catholic, 49 percent favored allowing same-sex marriage and that number climbed to 59 percent in favor of giving gay and lesbian couples the same legal rights as married couples. A surprising 69 percent favored allowing gay or lesbian couples to marry in their church or religious institution and 52 percent did not view homosexuality as a sin, compared to 38 percent who did. Some 69 percent said that good Christians should accept all people as God's creation and not cast judgment, while 60 percent viewed discrimination against gays and lesbians as a sin. Most of those surveyed, 71 percent, were under the age of 50.

While George W. Bush won 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, by 2008, 67 percent of the Hispanic vote had swung toward Obama. And that vote was pivotal to his success in states like Colorado, where exit polls show Republican Sen. John McCain would have won if only Caucasians had voted.

For many young Hispanics, both immigrant and U.S.-born, the DREAM Act — the proposed legislation would make students who entered the country without authorization as children eligible for permanent residency and higher education — is a key issue. Obama supports the proposal, while Romney's hard line against the measure, which he has called a handout, has alienated many Hispanic voters. The Pew Hispanic Center found in a December 2011 survey that 91 percent support the legislation.

Juan Rodríguez, who is active in the Florida Immigrant Coalition and an immigrant himself, said the gay rights and immigrant rights movements are "very aligned and becoming more so every year.

The co-president of Blase's Tequila Party, Shara Mora James is gay. And two so-called Dreamers, or leaders in the movement to pass DREAM Act, have recently taken over two emerging gay rights groups, Freedom to Work and Get Equal.

"The immigrant rights movement is grounded on advocating with the most oppressed out of our community, and in many cases, that has been queer undocumented youth," said Rodríguez. "We are figuring out more and more ways of supporting each other because we all grew up being told we needed to live in fear because of the communities we love."

Hispanic leaders and political watchers say they don't expect Obama's announcement to have much impact on the Latino vote, which could be key to victory in battleground states like New Mexico, Florida, Nevada and Colorado.

"No, no, no, no, no. It's not going to affect my vote," said Sister "Molly" María Luisa Muñoz, a Roman Catholic nun in Denver who works with immigrants and the gay and lesbian community. "My mother straightened us out right away," she said. "God made everybody. How we came out? That's God's creation. Nobody should judge."

At Barela's Coffee House in Albuquerque's predominantly Hispanic South Valley, manager Geri Lucero said when the talk turns to politics there, it's almost always about the economy.

"Economics is more important right now because people are struggling with their money," the 57-year-old said, noting that conversation on the day after Obama's announcement revolved around two recent pit bull maulings, not gay marriage.

Will Obama's stance impact her vote? No, she replied.

Despite the increased acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage among Hispanics, one of the most recent polls of registered voters on the issue, from Quinnipiac University in July 2011, shows only 37 percent of Hispanics said they would support a law in their state that would allow same-sex couples to get married, compared with 46 percent overall. But a Pew Research Center survey of Latinos in March 2011 showed 59 percent of Hispanics said homosexuality should be accepted by society, compared to 58 percent of the general population.

Gary Segura, director of Chicano studies at Stanford University, said that even though Hispanics hold more conservative views on family and social issues than the general population, "it's not how Latinos vote. It's about jobs, the economy, education."

The morning after Obama's announcement, discussion on a Spanish-language radio station popular with Cuban-Americans in Miami focused on the president's embrace of same-sex marriage, but most callers seemed more interested in discussing the likely political calculations that went into the decision than in slamming the president for violating their religious principles.

Delsa Bernardo, who co-owns Yiya's Gourmet Cuban Bakery and Café in Miami with her life partner, said Obama's shift has actually re-energized her support for the president. Bernardo said she backed Obama in 2008 but has since become disillusioned with him, mostly over the difficulty she's had in getting business loans from banks that received the bailouts backed by the president.

"It might swing my vote more to him because he's more open on this," she said.

Still, some conservative Hispanics said they will use Obama's endorsement of gay marriage to try to woo more Latinos to the Republican Party.

About 25 conservatives representing 10 southern Nevada churches met Thursday at the Casa Don Juan restaurant in downtown Las Vegas. The group of pastors, Hispanic activists and social conservatives blasted Obama's stance, fretting about the future of the family in the United States.

"He's destroying the fabric of the family," said Juan Sclafani, a Republican pastor at the First Spanish Baptist Church in Las Vegas. "His motivation is to get votes, but he doesn't realize that he is destroying our nation."

Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles in Washington, D.C., said his group expects to use the gay marriage debate to recruit new Hispanic supporters for Romney. They plan to focus on voter registration in Nevada and then branch out to Florida, North Carolina, Colorado and New Mexico.

Colorado's Democratic Party Chairman Rick Palacio, who is both gay and Hispanic, said it was difficult to say how Obama's statements would affect the presidential race in Colorado this year.

"While it may not be the most politically advantageous decision to make, he made the right decision," Palacio said. "I think that's more important than anything else. He's putting the right thing to do ahead of politics."

Written by Jeri Clausing of the Associated Press. Writers Laura Wides-Muñoz in Miami, Christina Silva in Las Vegas and Peter Banda and Catherine Tsai in Denver contributed to this report.

Read more: Obama's Gay Marriage Shift Energizes Immigration Activists | Fox News Latino

boy Obama
you will do any thing to stay in the wh .In my book you want to be In the wh again well you get every
one of the illegal immigrants , that from every Other country . yes everyother country china . you name that it
and get them all out . & cut off all welfare . for the one that don't need it . & the company that move out
of our country . & then they want us to buy . I say no way . all of the jobs are going over sea.
& the Amercian don't have any jobs why all of your Illegal immigrants has them .
these ar e the compnay that have illegal immigrants working I see this every day
TJM Lord & taylor
Instate alumin . walk around & look for your self .
as for cell phone that one for the book's why back in the 40 & 50 we could Not have a phone at all
or a radio or a car . you name it we could not have it but to day boy they have it good
so why in hell should they all go home . why we pay for this
I just hope you don't get in as for the other one that are running why they are just as bad as
you are I would not for any of you I have may pick & it sure In hell not you
Mr W
Gov jan
Az joe
they are for the USA you are not
No amnesty or Dream act

HELP NEEDED HERE TODAY!

http://www.alipac.us/f8/video-illega...-state-257469/

Obama's wicked marriage proposal

ADDED TO ALIPAC HOMEPAGE News with amended title ..

http://www.alipac.us/content/obama-s...activists-516/

Fox News Latino is afraid of the TRUTH! The truth would destroy Fox News Latino since they are trying to corner the market on lying newscasts! The truth is that Obama's overt alignment with radical gay groups is going to eventually alienate Hispanic voters. Trying to align Hispanics with radical gay groups will only work with the very young and those eager to appear in publications they will say and do anything like Dee Dee Garcia Blase lol

Notice how liar Dee Dee claims she is hearing from her group's members? That is both a lie and hilarious since Blase has no members in her group and is a one woman with a webmaster operation.

W

Urban Radio Callers Slam Obama Over Gay Marriage Support...

These things are well known to the people.

Lies are known, truth is known.

Only courage is lacking.