10 Mar 2004 A Case of Putting the Cart Before the Horse?

In testimony before Constitution Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, NAACP Washington Bureau head Hilary Shelton said her group opposes a Federal Marriage Amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

It’s perfectly fair for the NAACP to oppose such an amendment, but what about its opinion of the notion that led to its introduction In the first place: gay marriage? “The NAACP has not taken a position on that question,” Shelton says.

Why? Maybe because, according to a recent CBS poll, 58 percent of surveyed blacks said they’d likely vote against a candidate who disagreed with them on the gay marriage issue. And most of that 58 percent opposed it.

Poll results from Wirthlin suggest the NAACP’s apparent strategy of trying to keep both sides happy isn’t going to work. Wirthlin found that 62 percent of black Americans support the Federal Marriage Amendment. And it’s more popular among the lower income demographic that the population as a whole.

Here is Project 21 member Horace Cooper’s take on the NAACP’s maneuver:

Finally it’s clear just how out of touch the NAACP is. Rather than focusing on issues of importance to improving the plight of blacks – education, housing and job training – they are wasting time pursing an elitist left-wing agenda. This position clearly does not reflect the sentiment of black America nor of the rank-and-file membership of the NAACP.

As Daniel Patrick Moynihan thoroughly documented, the breakdown of the family has led to poverty and crime in the inner city. It is inconceivable that a group which purports to exist to help blacks is placing its moral authority behind such an extremist counter-culture platform. This venerable organization has lost its moral roots. When the NAACP supports obstacles to marriage and family rather than protections, something sad has happened.