From the liberal New York Times. (H/T Bad Blue)

Excerpt:

The board of the N.A.A.C.P. voted to endorse same-sex marriage on Saturday, putting the weight of the country’s most prominent civil rights group behind a cause that has long divided some quarters of the black community.

The largely symbolic move, made at the group’s quarterly board meeting in Miami, puts the N.A.A.C.P. in line with President Obama, who endorsed gay marriage a little over a week ago. Given the timing, it is likely to be viewed as both a statement of principle as well as support for the president’s position in the middle of a closely contested presidential campaign.

All but two of the organization’s 64 board members, who include many religious leaders, backed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage, according to people told of the decision.

Borrowing a term used by gay right’s advocates, the resolution stated: “We support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”

[…]The group’s endorsement could potentially bolster support for President Obama with a key constituency: black Democratic voters who remain skeptical of same-sex marriage.

Black and white Americans are divided on same-sex marriage in similar numbers, according to the results of four aggregated polls conducted by The New York Times and CBS News over the past year.

Yet there is greater opposition among black Democrats than white Democrats. Sixty-one percent of white Democrats supported legalizing marriage for gay couples, compared with 36 percent of black Democrats, while 35 percent of black Democrats opposed any legal recognition, compared with 18 percent of white Democrats.

When I interviewed some of my black co-workers before the 2008 election, they all thought that Obama was more pro-life than McCain, more pro-marriage than McCain, tougher on crime than McCain, more of a hawk on national security than McCain and more fiscally conservative than McCain. This is in spite of the fact that Obama’s record up until that time was staunchly in favor of abortion, gay marriage, leniency for criminals, unilateral disarmament and weakening counter-terrorism, higher taxes, more anti-business regulations and more spending. My black co-workers were able to tell me the rosters of our local sports teams and recite entire conversations from popular movies, but their beliefs about the Presidential candidates were entirely counter-factual.

About 95% of black voters support Democrats. I think it will be interesting to see how whether Obama’s policies and voting record play a role in their voting this time.

By the way, if anyone is tempted to accuse me of racism for telling the truth, I’m darker-skinned than Obama.