Interesting speculation from Booker Rising here. Barak Obama is about to start a gospel tour in support of his presidential bid. One of the performers is Donnie McClurkin, a Pentecostal minister who "crusades" against homosexuality and claims to be a "cured" ex-homosexual himself. Shay, the blogger at Booker Rising, does the electoral maths:
Gays are, at best, 2% of the total electorate. Blacks are 12% of the total electorate. While there are certainly people who are both gay and black, it is white gays by far who are leading the charge against this gospel tour. Sen. Obama losing the gay vote is politically irrelevant. However, Sen. Obama is in a big battle with Sen. Clinton for the black vote, which comprises the majority of the Democratic primary electorate in the state of South Carolina. This gospel tour - and the criticisms of it by (overwhelmingly white) gay activists - may actually help Sen. Obama with black voters, because he may rightly or wrongly be seen in some black quarters as defending black culture from gay folks.
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