Obama, gays and the black vote

Obama won North Carolina in 2008 by a mere 14,000 votes, thanks largely to a huge black turnout. Nationally, 95% of black voters chose Obama and 2 million more black people voted than in 2004. African-Americans have historically been more hostile to gays and lesbians than other racial and ethnic groups. Only 39% of African-Americans favor gay marriage, compared with 47% of white Americans, according to a Pew poll conducted in April 2012. Forty-nine per cent of blacks and 43% of whites are opposed. Black voters, led by black churches, have played key roles in blocking same-sex marriage in states like California, where 2008 exit polls indicated about 70% black opposition, and Maryland, where black Democrats were part of a statehouse coalition that stalled a gay marriage bill in 2011.