"...whether you like it or not"

Gay couples were not the only losers in Tuesday’s passage of Proposition 8 which now forbids gay marriage in the state of California. San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom, a frontrunner for Governor in 2010 bore the brunt of the anti-gay marriage movement. Newsom is widely seen as an up-and-comer in the California Democratic Party but his climb to prominence became that much more difficult this week as the California electorate proved it disagrees with his stance on gay marriage.



“…whether you like it not.” Those five words helped shore up his support in San Francisco but may prove to be his political Waterloo. On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay marriage. In celebration, Newsom held a rally at which he exclaimed “as California goes, so goes the rest of the nation. It's inevitable. This door's wide open now. It's going to happen, whether you like it or not.”

Since May, he has not backed down from his steadfast support of gay rights and gay marriage but has tried fruitlessly to get out of the spotlight on this controversial issue. He presided over a lesbian wedding only to find out that school children were in attendance. And most recently and most importantly, Newsom became the punching bag for Yes on 8 campaign. They bought millions of dollars in advertisements which displayed his rally cry and used it to invigorate their supporters.

Despite California being considered a very liberal state, the vote on gay marriage was split instead on racial lines much more so than by political lines. African Americans and Hispanics voted for Barack Obama but then voted Yes on 8. In favorability polling conducted this week, Newsom has a very slim margin of favorability among Democrats and an abysmally negative favorability among Republicans. Despite his support in San Francisco and his support by the California Democratic elite, Newsom will have a very difficult time being elected. Over the next two years, the field of serious gubernatorial contenders will emerge. It will fascinating to see whether Newsom can play up his economic and healthcare revivals of San Francisco or whether people will see him as the steadfast supporter of an unfavorable issue.