Agents of Intolerance

Constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have passed in each of the 4 states voting on the measure (Arizona, California, Florida, and Nebraska). Interestingly, the exit polls show that the vote among whites was evenly split (around 50-50) in all states except Florida, where white voters supported the ban by a margin of 60-40; however, black voters overwhelmingly supported the bans in all 4 states by an average of 70-30. It is rather ironic, I think, that black voters, who showed up to the polls in historic numbers and supported Obama by a margin of 19-1, simultaneously made history by helping to elect a minority (in their own image) as President, and, as a block, wholly rejected the rights of another minority group seeking equal rights. Tolerance is all relative, I suppose.

UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan adds:

Every ethnic group supported marriage equality, except African-Americans, who voted overwhelmingly against extending to gay people the civil rights once denied them: a staggering 69 - 31 percent African-American margin against marriage equality. That's worse than even I expected. Whites, on the other hand, clearly rejected discrimination: 55 to 45 percent. Latinos were evenly split.