Some areas of S.F. voted to ban same-sex marriage

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 11/14/8 | Heather Knight

[SmithL]

For all the talk of San Francisco values, a Chronicle analysis of how the city voted on the state's same-sex marriage ban shows a city geographically divided on the issue - and voting trends that turn San Francisco's typical political spectrum on its head.

One in 4 San Franciscans voted in favor of Proposition 8, far fewer than the 52 percent who voted to ban same-sex marriage statewide. But a closer look shows race, age and education influenced voters more than anything else - even among those living in one of the world's most gay-friendly cities.

Voters in 54 of San Francisco's 580 precincts supported the ban, with a high of 65 percent of voters favoring it in parts of Chinatown and downtown. More than half of voters in large swaths of Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, the Excelsior and areas around Lake Merced also voted to ban same-sex marriage.

Neighborhoods including the Marina, Laurel Heights and Mission Bay - which almost always vote more conservatively than neighborhoods such as Bayview and Chinatown - voted overwhelmingly against Prop. 8.

"With the racial and religious overprint that we're seeing, the standard San Francisco politics get thrown out the window on this one," said political consultant David Latterman, who further crunched the precinct-by-precinct voting results that The Chronicle obtained this week from the Department of Elections.

"This issue is very separate from what we usually think of as liberal and conservative," he said.

The trends

Latterman said the issue played out in San Francisco the same way it plays out everywhere else: Race, age and education were big influences in one's vote on Prop. 8. Latterman did not factor in religion, but exit polls throughout California showed a strong church affiliation correlated with a vote in favor of the ban among all racial groups.

[Fiji Hill]

Why is the zoo orange on the map?

That zoo must have a lot of elephants.

[Paleo Conservative]

That zoo must have a lot of elephants.

But how did the RINOs vote?

[verity]

Discord in Faggot City. Who would have “thunk it?”

[EDINVA]

The way Prop 8 opponents have acted toward churches that supported it, those ‘hoods could see some trouble in the coming days.

[Publius6961]

BUMP!

[dr_who]

I guess this means the article writer wants gays to harass people in those parts of the city.

[informavoracious]

I have a sneaky feeling the anti-8 bullies will stick to harassing Chinatown and stay out of Hunter’s Point.

[ChocChipCookie]

Maybe there are some righteous people in SF after all.

[TheDon]

A little arson here, a little arson there, it’s okay, it’s for a good cause...

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

I registered numerous people that were Dems over to the Republican side during the election. It was breathtaking to hear them talk. They had discovered that the Dems no longer spoke for them.