Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyOctober 19th, 2009
Protect Maine Equality has a new ad:
Meanwhile, Maine Public Broadcasting got an amazing admission from Marc Mutty of Stand for Marriage Maine:
We understand that schools will not be mandated to provide one curriculum or another, but neither will they be discouraged or will they be unable to provide the kind curriculum that they so choose that well could include teaching about same-sex marriage.
… We have never said that schools will be mandated — or, actually, perhaps we did in one ad, or certainly led people to believe that, inadvertently.
Give me a break. These ads are focus-grouped to within an inch of their lives. These people do nothing inadvertently. In fact, they are following Frank Shubert’s playbook to the letter. The Maine Public Broadcasting report was right to say that the “No on 1” side “veered off message” to address the lies behind Stand for Marriage Maine’s latest ad. This is one of my beefs with the Protect Maine Equality campaign. They are still letting the anti-equality side drive the agenda, and they have yet to put them on the defensive.
Mutty also told Maine Public Broadcasting that they will be branching out into new topics — again, straight out of their playbook. In the last days of California’s Prop 8 campaign, they circulated materials that implied that then-candidate Barack Obama backed Prop 8’s passage. Last week, we saw the President and the White House issue important statements opposing ballot measures to strip LGBT people of their rights. Will Protect Maine Equality use those statements pre-emptively? Or will they wait until Stand for Marriage Maine calls out the next dance card?
We certainly can’t say we didn’t see it coming.
By the way, I donated so I get to bellyache. You can donate too, right here, or you can volunteer.
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gonovelgo
October 20th, 2009
‘Inadvertently’? Given that almost everybody you talk to on the anti-equality site is completely convinced that legalising gay marriage will inevitably lead to it being ‘taught’ (how?) in schools, those inadvertent actions sure had a powerful effect.
I really love this as well:
We understand that schools will not be mandated to provide one curriculum or another, but neither will they be discouraged or will they be unable to provide the kind curriculum that they so choose that well could include teaching about same-sex marriage.
So…gay marriage is bad because it won’t in any way alter the situation with school curricula?
Am I the only one thinking they should have proofread this a few more times before letting it out in the wild?
Matt
October 20th, 2009
“We understand that schools will not be mandated to provide one curriculum or another”
That needs to be the headline of No’s next ad.
Bob
October 20th, 2009
Just pledged $50.
Come on people … send the cash and let’s get this done.
Ben in Oakland
October 20th, 2009
All I can say is this: If they don’t run with this, and make this a centerpoint of the remaining days of the campaign, then we might as well give up the fight now. Running with it means not only calling out the lie, but talking about anti-gay prejudice as a motivator in this whole thing. we don’t have to call anyone a bitgot, but we do have to start talking about bigotry.
I have said two things repeatedly. We must be very direct and very forceful on three subjects: children, religion, and bigotry. So far, all of the campaigns have been pretty wishy-washy on all three, though at least children are finally receiving some airplay.
Second, the enemy is not the right wing. the enemy is the closet, and our complicity in the closet. Until people come out to everyone they know, without exception, this garbage will continue to resonate, and we will continue to lose.
And yes. I donated.
Dan
October 20th, 2009
I don’t agree with everything Ben In Oakland says, but on his main point I completely and emphatically agree. If No on 1 doesn’t use this to full effect, then they have no one to blame but themselves if they lose. This is a clear opportunity to eviscerate the fear-based campaign that the Yessers have run. It warrants an ad of its own.
Ben in Oakland
October 20th, 2009
The ad should be very factual:
The screen shows Mutt and his statement about teaching kids homosexuality.
This would be MY voiceover:
“The Nat’l Organization for Marriage has claimed repeatedly that children would be taught homosexuality if marriage equality for same-sex couples is approved. Yet on October 19, NOM spokesman Mark Mutt stated this:
Show his statement AND READ IT OUT.
Voiceover the written words “Why are they lying?”
Voiceover: “In short, Mr. Mutt has admitted that his campaign up to this point has been a lie, a lie intended to scare the voters into voting against marriage rights for their gay and lesbian neighbors. He has called the Attorney General of this state a liar for stating what he clearly admits is true:
Marriage Equality will have no effect on what is taught in our schools.
Why would someone who claims to stand for marriage and traditional morality tell a lie like this?
Maybe because his position has nothing to do either morality or traditional marriage.
hb
October 20th, 2009
Yes on 1 used an NPR clip in their new ad. And NPR wants it pulled.
http://updates.pressherald.mainetoday.com/updates/npr-wants-same-sex-marriage-ad-pulled
“…this afternoon, Rehm said, NPR sent a cease and desist notice to the ad agency that produced an ad, and to Stand for Marriage Maine, with the expectation that “any use of NPR content in this manner will stop immediately.””
Ben in Oakland
October 20th, 2009
I’m not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that this would withstand any attempts at suppression for libel or slander. And for once, it tells the truth instead of trying to be nice about it.
As I have also said repeatedly, I would rather lose because we have told the truth than be complicit in the ongoing attempts of our political leaders to keep everything in the closet.
And I absolutely believe that the failure to use this statement of Mutt’s is just another example of the closet mentality. The closet is always about hiding the truth behind a nicely appointed door. It’s not sexuality that gets closeted. It is the TRUTH that goes into the closet, and we ignore that FACT at our peril.
The closet tends to produce Mr. Nice Fag, our very own Steppin Fetchit. Lawsa No, massa, we can’t talk about children, prejudice, and religion, lest we offend the very people who attack us, or who at least are willing to agree to the attacks of others. NEWSFLASH: our existence offends them.
Coming out with the truth is never going to sway the hard-core haters. You cannot reach people who are, by definition, irretrievably poisoned by their hate, whether they prefer to call it religious belief, or admit it for what it is. But there are reasonable people– if uninformed, ignorant, non-conscious– who are scared. (Remember when you were in the closet yourself?) They probably don’t know any gay people, and they don’t know why we should be complaining. I sincerely doubt that they understand or question centuries of irrational hatred.
But they do understand being lied to. They might empathize with being the victim of prejudice.
They need to be told they are being lied to, and why. With proof. These are the people who can be reached, and we need just half of them to win..
Dan
October 22nd, 2009
Well, it has been 3 days since this bombshell, and as far as I know, No on 1 has not even commented on it. Not even a press release.
I frankly don’t understand this. It either is the result of a conscious tactical choice on their part or else complete and total incompetence. If the former, they are totally and tragically wrong; if the latter, then one can only hope that the incompetence is limited to this one item.
Ben in Oakland
October 22nd, 2009
I sent them an email with my comments. Haven’t heard from them.
what does it take to get people involved in these campaigns to THINK? I went to the no on 8 office repeatedly to talk to them about having a speakers bureau for community outreach. they weren’t interested. And we can see where that got us.
Is this more of the same? Holy mackerel, Batman, I sure as hell hope not.
Steve Rider
October 24th, 2009
It is OK for Christians to lie, deceive, mislead, misrepresent, slander, malign, and generally promote falsehoods if they are doing it to keep the Baby Jesus from crying.
Everybody knows that every time a gay couple gets married the poor little Baby Jesus gets terrible diaper rash.
ravenbiker
October 25th, 2009
This is a surprise because…?
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