Documentary Analysis

For this post, I decided to review a New York Times Op-Doc entitled "The Black Vote for Gay Marriage".

This short documentary examines how the African American community feels about same-sex marriage.  Towards the beginning, it shows that many blacks do not support it because many are very religious, and therefore follow the writings of the Bible which say that marriage is between one man and one woman.

It features B-roll footage of African Americans protesting against same-sex marriage, and this made me VERY angry.  I support gay marriage because I don't believe that its the governments job to tell people who they can or cannot love.

Also, not everyone believes in the Bible, so why should it be the basis of our laws?  Have the opponents of gay marriage ever heard of separation of church and state?

Another type of B-roll footage it has is people singing a petition against Question 6 at the protest.

In addition, it includes interviews (a type ofA-roll footage) with blacks who oppose gay marriage, such as Reverend Delman Coates of the Mt. Ennon Baptist Church.  Coates explained how Question 6 was able to get on the referendum ballot (the Civil Marriage Protection Act was passed, but the opposition got over 100,00 0 signatures).

Another interview in the documentary is one with Pastor Derek McCoy of Maryland Marriage Alliance.  McCoy told why African Americans began to protest Question 6: they felt the need to act when they say that the "definition of marriage" was being "threatened".

In my opinion, this is BS.  The Bible should not define marriage, marriage is being united with the person you love, no matter the person's gender.

One thing that I liked about the documentary was that included B-roll footage of prominent African Americans discussing their views on gay marriage.  Al Sharpton said that gay marriage is an issue of a civil rights, and President Barack Obama said that he supports same-sex marriage.

Another thing I liked was that it has some interesting camera angles, such as footage of people singing the petition against Question 6 from the point of view of the edge of the table.

I also really liked how it has interviews with a black gay couple, to provide a contrasting point of view against the opinions from the beginning half of the documentary.


Overall, I would recommend this documentary because it can help you see the issue of same-sex marriage from both points of view.

Here is the documentary:
The Black Vote for Gay Marriage
7 minutes and 2 seconds
No Rating