There is a deep rift in the black community about comparisons between gays' struggle for marriage equality and the civil rights struggle of African-Americans. The National Black Justice Coalition is one of the groups working to address this issue and recently hosted its fourth annual Black Church Summit at San Francisco's Glide Memorial.

Several members of the city's black clergy, who supported Prop. 8, were contacted for comment but did not return phone calls. One Oakland minister, however, who asked to remain anonymous, said he could understand why his colleagues also did not want to speak on the record. He said he believes they likely did not want to be seen as the face of hatred or railing publicly against the NAACP.

In addition, he said African-American pastors are dealing with many other crisis situations such as crime and violence, home foreclosures and school closures and that addressing rights for same-sex couples is not their top priority.