Prop 8 Sparks Gay-Black Divide

It's Sin vs. Skin

Judy Gilbert, Fisher's partner of three years and a black woman, said her family also refused to acknowledge her sexual orientation.

"They may be in denial," said the 46-year old environmental consulting engineer. "My mum still refers to Leslie as my 'friend' and 'roommate,' and my brother just doesn't want to deal with it."

LaDoris Cordell, a former California judge who is a black lesbian, said the question of gay marriage "touches on a primitive nerve, a palpable fear."

"It's one of the elephants in the living room," Cordell, who is now special counselor to the president of Stanford University for campus relations, told ABCNews.com. "It's sin vs. skin."

But the "roots go deeper" than homophobia, according to Cordell. Proposition 8 hit a "sensitive nerve," she said.

"There is talk in the black community that this is not a civil rights issue," she said. "I am a bit shocked because since when did oppression become a competition and when did suffering have gradations -- my suffering is greater than yours and yours doesn't count."

This issue, she said, will not be fought in the churches, but in the courts. Already six lawsuits have been filed by three California cities, a lesbian couple and various civil rights groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.