A new analysis shows that all the hype about overwhelming African-American support for a California ballot measure to block same-sex marriages was greatly exaggerated.

In November, voters passed the initiative known as “Proposition 8,” which banned gay marriage in the state.

"Party identification, age, religiosity and political view had much bigger effects than race, gender or having gay and lesbian family and friends," said Patrick Egan of New York University.

An initial analysis found that seven in 10 Black voters backed Prop 8 on Nov. 4, while overwhelmingly voting for Sen. Barack Obama, who is an opponent of the same-sex marriage ban. But a closer look at the numbers found that the 70-percent figure was more like 58 percent.   Still, that’s notably higher than the overall 52-percent in the state that voted for the measure.

"The study debunks the myth that African Americans overwhelmingly and disproportionately supported Proposition 8," Andrea Shorter, director of And Marriage for All, said in a statement. "But we clearly have work to do with, within and for African-American communities, particularly the Black church."

Religion had much to do with the attitudes of Black voters, as 70 percent of churchgoers said they were opposed to same-sex marriages. About 30 percent of non-churchgoers said they opposed the ban.

"This is a wake-up call to the (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community," said Jaime Grant, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute. "We must do a better job of organizing in the faith-based community, using LGBT people who are themselves part of that community."