When Californians went to the polls last month to decide on a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage, an overwhelming 70 percent of Blacks supported the measure, known as Proposition 8. The BET.com Be Heard poll mirrored the election, with 70 percent of users saying they agreed with Prop 8.

So why are African Americans, who tend to represent the most liberal segment of the voting public, so staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage?

The BET.com poll revealed that religion had a lot to do with users’ attitudes about the controversial topic. In fact, about 64 percent of them cited “religious reasons.” Almost 11 percent thought of gay marriage as “icky”; about 8 percent pointed to the “possible effects on the couple’s children”; about 7 percent thought that rejection of Prop 8 had to do with ignorance within the Black community.