After the rage, what next for Prop. 8 opponents?

Taking to the streets in outrage over a major civil-rights setback is all well and good, but a better use of that energy might be to figure out what went wrong in the first place and how to keep it from happening again.

That’s my opinion, anyway, which is why—as legions of gay-rights proponents marched up and down the state protesting the Nov. 4 passage of Proposition 8—I called the head of a top No-on-8 group and asked him what his people plan to do get more African-Americans onboard for the next gay-marriage fight.

Prop. 8, which amends the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, received tons of support from people across the country, but on Election Day, none were more critical to its passage than California’s black voters. As reported by dozens of news outlets, exit polls Nov. 4 showed blacks approving the measure by a ratio of 2-1. While hardly unexpected—blacks tend to be more socially conservative than most other voting demographics—the record black turnout due to Barack Obama’s candidacy provided Prop. 8 the crucial votes it needed for passage.

That’s why Prop. 8 passed. As to the how of it—as in, “How can gay-marriage proponents keep something like Prop. 8 from happening again?”—things get a bit more complicated. The first step in addressing a problem is to admit you have a problem, and Fred Karger, campaign manager for the anti-Prop. 8 group Californians Against Hate, isn’t quite prepared yet to go that far. While admitting that “more work needs to be done” in minority communities, Karger thinks the demographic his and other gay-rights groups really need to go after are the Mormons.

“We definitely have momentum in California, despite our opponents, including organized religions, throwing everything at us,” says Karger, who founded Californians Against Hate in El Cajon. The group has since moved its headquarters to Los Angeles.

“I think the real culprit here are some of the leaders in organized religion, particularly the Mormon religion, in forcing its members to contribute vast sums of money, turning that over to the Prop. 8 people, and telling outright lies,” he says. “In many instances, Mormons closed out their savings accounts—they were forced to give that money. To me, that’s the real crime in this election.”

Karger has a point. Leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints actively extolled members to give of their time and cash in support of the Yes-on-8 campaign. Californians Against Hate reported that Mormon families contributed some $17.67 million since August to the cause. As a result, pro-gay-rights groups are now calling for a boycott of Utah, where the Mormon Church is centered, in punishment.

But does anyone really think that will achieve the desired effect? When the push for legalized gay marriage returns to the California ballot box, and it will return, do Karger and others really believe a single Mormon minister in Salt Lake City will say, “Well, I was going to ask you all to oppose this threat to the sanctity of marriage, but since we’ve got the financial health of the Sundance Film Festival to think about….”? Not so much, perhaps.

With disbelief and rage over Prop. 8’s passage still holding sway over the minds of gays and progressives, one can only hope that, as their emotions return to earth, they’ll figure out that perhaps a better approach would be to do a better job reaching out to California’s black communities. Changing attitudes within African-American households, churches and community centers here will likely yield better and more immediate results than would an economic blockade of an entire state.

But again, that’s just my opinion.