An opportunity for Prop. 8 backers: Latino voters against gay marriage - San Jose Mercury News

An opportunity for Prop. 8 backers: Latino voters against gay marriage - San Jose Mercury News

By Mike Swift
Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/23/2008 01:30:31 AM PDT



As he strolled with his girlfriend in downtown San Jose, David Palacios looked like the type of voter who will oppose the November ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage in California - young urbanite, well-educated, a resident of a Bay Area metropolis.

Except that Palacios is Latino.

"I'm for civil unions - not gay marriage," said Palacios, 20, who grew up on the East Side of San Jose and says he is likely to vote in favor of Proposition 8.

In a way, Palacios feels marriage is above civil rights.

Across California, a majority of whites appear poised to vote against Proposition 8 in November, according to a Field Poll in July. But that same poll found that Latinos, with their social conservatism and strong Catholicism, are in favor of a constitutional ban against same-sex marriage.

As a rapidly growing political bloc that could represent nearly one in five voters in November, Latinos represent a major opportunity for the campaign working to pass Proposition 8. The Field Poll found the same-sex marriage measure was leading among Latinos 49 percent to 38 percent.

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