The gay-marriage war hits TV

[Hepburn]

<snip>

The first ad, titled “Gathering Storm,” said The Christian Broadcasting Network, points out that “threats to religious and personal liberties will become very real if same-sex marriage is legalized.” The main goal of this campaign is to “educate the public about the pressuring of courts and legislatures by gay rights activists to re-define marriage against the wishes of voters.”

<snip>

The fight against same-sex marriage is no joke, said National Review in an editorial. Gay marriage support isn’t growing, despite what its proponents say. So, before the courts foist gay marriage from coast to coast, supporters of traditional marriage have a right and a duty to the value to our culture and our children, who do best with a mother and father who are married to each other.

http://www.theweek.com/article/index/95233/The_gaymarriage_war_hits_TV

GMAFB...:puke:

Children are best raised by two opposite sex people who are married to each other?

I guess to these assholes, a woman who stays with an abuser is doing the Christian thing...but two gay people who wish to make a loving commitment are just sooooooo evil that it MUST be outlawed.

Unbelievable...there has to be a way to educate people as to the reality of all of this.

[Toucano]

1. Saw the ad on YouTube. Does anyone know

What are they talking about when they say their freedoms will be taken away?

Do they mean their freedom to be a bigot? Their freedom to oppress others?

Is there something I am missing?

[Warpy]

3. Their freedom to be entitled, I guess

Really, "freedom" to these people is as much a buzzword as "socialism" is, "freedom" being anything essentially good while "socialism" is thrown at anything they think is bad.

They way they use the word has nothing to do with what it actually means.

It's code.

[Hepburn]

4. I think, but am not sure, that they are referring to "religious" freedoms because....

...to of these idiots actually believe that if gay marriage is allowed, churches and the clergy will be FORCED to perform the ceremonies.

IMO, they really need to be educated on this....noting change: Right now a clergyperson has a right to refuse to marry ANY couple on religious grounds. The Catholics do this all the time ~~ previously divorced people, non-Catholic mate who refuses to raise any children as Catholics, etc. There simply is NO difference if gay marriages became legal ~~ the clergy could still refuse on religious grounds.

Marriage is a CIVIL matter ~~ I wish to hell the religous organizations would butt the hell out.

Edit for typo.

[Toucano]

11. That's as I thought. nt

[Terran]

15. It's a lie and they know it.

One of the few ways they have to push back against this movement is to scare people into believing lies. They did it quite handily with Prop 8 and they expect it will continue to work.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

30. Huzzah!

Hepburn, you've hit the nail on the head, I think!

[JerseygirlCT]

26. Yes, their freedom to be bigots

That's it exactly. Their freedom to deny other people the same rights they enjoy.

[LeftinOH]

2. I still don't understand what the 'threats to our liberties' entails...(???)

[Hepburn]

8. The only one I can figure is....

...religious liberty...:shrug: Churches FORCED to marry gay couples?

[JerseygirlCT]

25. That will NEVER happen

Never. But it's being used as part of the scare tactics from these people.

No clergy are ever required to marry anyone. Each follows the dictates of their own denomination. That will continue. BUT - and it's a big but - those whose denominations allow same sex marriage will now enjoy the same freedom as those who do not. IOW, they will now have the freedom to marry according to *their* own rules, too.

[JerseygirlCT]

24. They're afraid they won't be allowed to discriminate

Poor babies.

(The poor church in NJ, for instance, owns property for which they got special tax benefits, in return for treating it as open to the public. Now they're whining, because they use it for weddings, and gee, open means open, and they might have to have *gasp* gay weddings taking place in their town! Oh the horror!)

No clergy will ever be required to marry anyone they don't wish to marry. Those engaging in government sponsored activities (justices of the peace, clerks, etc.) well, they're going to have to act in accord with the laws. So awful that they won't be able to subvert those laws to satisfy their prejudice, isn't it?

[JackBeck]

5. And true to form, their current spokesperson, Maggie Gallagher is a hypocrite.

She used to be a single mother. Go figure.

[Hepburn]

7. Maybe someone should tell her that ONLY married opposite sex couples...

...successfully raise children...:sarcasm:

[MineralMan]

6. I saw the ad on YouTube, too.

What media buys has this organization made? Network? Non-religious cable? Unless they show this crap where non-supporters will view it, it's meaningless.

Until we hear something about their media buys, we have no idea where it's going to reach.

[Hepburn]

10. I am wondering if the Mormon "church" (more like cult) will....

...give these jerks any financial backing again?

Seems like they got burned the last time when they were exposed ~~ hopefully the money will not flow like it did before.

[WhollyHeretic]

9. Here is another video of all those "real" people

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZaGks5LkkI

This was posted earlier in the video forum by BR_Parkway

[Hepburn]

12. Well, I guess that daughters are OK in Mass, right?

They only seem to be teaching sons that gay marriage is OK. :eyes:

[bluestateguy]

13. President Obama should tap this organization's phones...without a warrant!

See how they like it.

We need to know who they are talking to and what they are plotting.

If they haven't done anything wrong then they should have nothing to worry about.

[cali]

14. Interestingly, here in VT over the last few weeks, there were lots of

pro-marriage equality ads on TV and no antis.

[H2O Man]

19. There have been a

number of very positive things on tv recently. Those who want to deny adults their rights are being a minority that appears out of touch with reality.

Years ago, when there was a lot of racism in my area, it was largely because the white people here had never had any contact with black families. I remember when one of my sisters and her husband moved into one rural area, about ten families were horrified, and put their homes up for sale. But none of them moved. In time, they got to know the people they thought they hated, and found out they really liked them. Today, those same ten families have grown out of their earlier misperceptions about who and what posed a threat to their neighborhood.

I think the same general thing will happen now. In the church my wife and daughters attend, there is a lesbian couple. I know that a few people had been weird about it, but they got over their insecurities when they got to know the couple.

[JerseygirlCT]

21. You're absolutely right

and the best "cure" for this hate is also proximity to real people. Harder to spew that sort of hate when you're spewing at someone you've come to know and like.

The sky hasn't fallen here in CT at all, and most people now simply think "oh, yeah. What's the big deal, anyway?" There are a few big-mouthed professional haters, but other than them, the population has discovered that allowing some of their friends and neighbors to enjoy the same rights they do hasn't effected them in the least. Their marriages haven't been ruined, their neighborhoods made unsafe for children... nothing bad has happened.

And younger people are overwhelmingly in favor of equal rights. The clock is not with the haters, that's for sure.

[Hepburn]

22. Hi, H20....

...hopefully, times are changing. I have very close friends who are an interracial couple and I have close friends who are gay couples. I love all of them as people and as my friends and I could not care less as to whom they love and only wish all of them happiness forever!

:hi:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

32. This is what fuels their fear

The religious bigots know that when people get to know the "other" group, they find more similarities than differences, and realize that "other" group is no threat at all. And the religious leaders who use bigotry as a tool lose their power. This is really their fear.

[NorthernSpy]

16. It was a dark and stormy night...

I saw that "Gathering Storm" ad on youtube. Kinda cheesy, really.

[LeftHander]

17. My LTTE

With Iowa and Vermont now permitting same sex marriage it is time for Wisconsinites to ponder the discrimination added to our state constitution in 2006.

Looking back on the influence the religious right had on policy during the Bush years it is perfectly okay for people to ask themselves "What was I thinking?"

The momentum of change is gaining speed across the country. Part of that change is the changing of attitudes by the political center. It is now clear to many that a small minority of religious conservatives aided by a well funded republican political machine hoisted the bans on same sex marriage across the country.

Republican religious conservatives driven by hate, fear and ignorance attempted but failed to stop the progress of LGBT rights.

In the spirit of Wisconsin's progressive history we have the opportunity to right the mistakes of the past. We can begin to take steps to remove the embarrassingly draconian language barring same sex couples equality before it is done for us.

[Hepburn]

18. Nice letter!

:hi:

Hopefully, the RW h8ers will die out and all of us will finally have equal rights!

[JerseygirlCT]

20. I can't even formulate a coherent response to these people, they

make me that angry.

How dare they? How dare they so blatantly lie? How dare they seek to harm other people who have done them no harm?

How dare they expect rights for themselves that they are unwilling to see others enjoy?

Asses.

[Hepburn]

23. That is really what gets to me....

...bigots seek out those who have done them no harm. Sick, really sick...and very sad. Just to find someone to hate.

[Lyric]

27. Dear fanatical religious dipwads who hate gays:

You're going to lose. You know it, we know it, the whole WORLD knows it.

Enjoy what small, petty victories you can eke out right now. They won't last long.

:hi:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

28. How does gay marriage threaten religious liberties?

Oh--by religious liberties they mean it threatens their ability to make everyone practice THEIR religion.

[booley]

29. They are a rainbow coalition!

At the end the main speaker actually says that, that they are a diverse group of people..... who are attacking another diverse group of people for wanting the same rights.

Is there some kind of actual condition that makes one unable to grasp irony?

[rox63]

31. The education is gradually happening, it's just moving really slowly

There are legally-married gay people in a few states now, and there soon will be more. Most of the people who listen to this right-wing crap are simply ignorant of the facts. They believe they don't know any gay people, when in fact most of them just don't realize that there are gay people in their lives every day.

If a referendum vote had been held in Massachusetts about same-sex marriage when it first became legal, most of the populace would have come out against it. Now that it's been legal for a few years, most of those folks who would have have opposed it back then now think it's no big deal.

[HillWilliam]

33. Umm, the Equal Protection Clause in the Iowa Constitution was there

before their Supreme Court opined that it really-really meant, y'know, equal. The law was the same the day before the opinion as it was the day after -- it was just being upheld. The Iowa Constitution was the will of the people, ratified and enacted by them. Nobody forced it down their throats. No "activist" anybody did it... the Iowa people did it to themselves. As for the Iowa governor's stupid remark "the people will have their say" on the issue -- uh, look, dumbass; they already did. They ratified and enacted their constitution with an Equal Protection clause in it.

If they really meant "free, white, heterosexual and over 21" they should have said so then :sarcasm:

So enough of the right-wing whining and pueling and bitching and moaning. The nutwingers need to get with the Twenty-First Century program and get TF over themselves. This gay man is tired of their sheet-wearing, unreconstructed, unrepentantly and openly bigoted trash and lies.