The Numbers of Prop 8

One of the most frequent lies I hear among the homophobic bigots about Prop 8 is "Californians voted overwhelmingly against gay marriage."

Apparently, bigotry goes hand-in-hand with ignorance and a lack of ability to do basic math. Of course, are we really surprised by this? No, not really. Bigotry IS a form of ignorance, so a math impairment and lack of basic search skills and understanding of how the electoral system works - in reality.

According to the California Secretary of State, voter turnout on the Prop 8 issue was 79.42%, with only 13,402,566 valid votes cast. Of those votes, 7,001,084 were cast for Prop 8, a total of 52.24% of the vote. Based on the percentage of votes cast, 52.24% itself is not anywhere near "overwhelming", not by any stretch of the imagination! Even in "Conservative speak" I don't see how anyone could consider a margin of 4.48% a "landslide".

Now let's look at the numbers that really count.

The total population of California, at the latest estimate, is 36,756,666 (according to Wikipedia as of 2008). So that means that the people who decided Prop 8 were, in fact, not 79.42% of the population in total but actually 36.46% of the population, or just slightly over 1/3!

The people who cast "Yes" votes on Prop 8? A total of 19.05% of the total population, or slightly under 1/5 of the total population. The number that tipped it over the edge (that 2.14%) itself was approximately 287 people. Yup, that's right - 287 people made the difference between our civil rights being stripped away and our communities continued ability to legally marry in this State.

The total margin of difference between the passage and failure of Prop 8? A whopping total of 1.63% of the total population of the State!

Of course, that total population number doesn't tell us how many are of voting age - I don't exactly know where to get that number at the moment, so if I find it, I'll come back and do an update. I also don't know for certain if that number includes legal residents who are eligible to vote, etc., but this should give you some idea of the absolutely ridiculousness of the claims of those who want to say that Californians voted "overwhelmingly" for "traditional marriage."

So the next time someone tries to pull that crap on you, remember this. While the exact numbers may be up for question with regards to the total number of "voting eligible residents", even when you count those who are registered to vote, there was nothing "overwhelming" about that election at all. 287 people are not overwhelming, they are confused people who probably lacked the opportunity to hear the truth about us because of a very poorly managed campaign by "No on 8".

This is something that we should keep in mind when we think about whether or not to go forward in 2010 versus 2012 for the push to repeal Prop 8. The battle may not be as uphill as some think. Surely we can be persuasive enough to convince 300 people to vote in our favor? Times, they are a changing, and people are waking up to the facts. The scare tactics of the Yes on 8 campaign aren't working any more and the California votes are not as naive as they used to be. The post-election events have had an impact, and we need to take advantage of that, before people forget that, because memories are short.

After all, we have legal gay marriages in California now and the sky hasn't fallen and the State hasn't slid off into the Pacific! Children haven't been corrupted and churches haven't been sued. Hopefully, whoever is coordinating the campaign next time around will take note of these facts and remember to point them out.