Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Anti-gay group gets pummeled for deceptive ad

Now that's what I call fast. Today the National Organization for Marriage (an anti-gay marriage group which thinks nothing of using deceptions to get its point across) came out with an ad.

The ad, rich in silly hyperbolic images, claimed that gay marriage will cause other freedoms to be taken away.

Since I'm not familiar with how to link from youtube, you can see the ad here at Goodasyou.org along with the excellent rebuttal made by Jeremy, the blogmaster of Goodasyou.org

And Jeremy is not the only one who jumped on this deceptive ad.

The Human Rights Campaign breaks down the ad's lies and gives the truth behind each one:

Background Ad Rebuttal

“The Real Truth Behind the Fake Ad”


The general argument of the ad is that the push for marriage equality isn’t just about rights for same-sex couples, it’s about imposing contrary values on people of faith. The examples they cite in the ad are:

(1) A California doctor who must choose between her faith and her job

(2) A member of New Jersey church group which is punished by the state because they can’t support same-sex marriage

(3) A Massachusetts parent who stands by helpless while the state teaches her son that gay marriage is okay

The facts indicate that (1) refers to the Benitez decision in California, determining that a doctor cannot violate California anti-discrimination law by refusing to treat a lesbian based on religious belief, (2) refers to the Ocean Grove, New Jersey Methodist pavilion that was open to the general public for events but refused access for civil union ceremonies (and was fined by the state for doing so) and (3) refers to the Parker decision in Massachusetts, where parents unsuccessfully sought to end public school discussions of family diversity, including of same-sex couples.

All three examples involve religious people who enter the public sphere, but don’t want to abide by the general non-discriminatory rules everyone else does. Both (1) and (2) are really about state laws against sexual orientation discrimination, rather than specifically about marriage. And (3) is about two pairs of religious parents trying to impose their beliefs on all children in public schools.

The real facts of each case are:

The California doctor entered a profession that promises to “first, do no harm” and the law requires her to treat a patient in need – gay or straight, Christian or Muslim – regardless of her religious beliefs. The law does not, and cannot, dictate her faith – it can only insist that she follow her oath as a medical professional.

The New Jersey church group runs, and profits from, a beachside pavilion that it rents out to the general public for all manner of occasions –concerts, debates and even Civil War reenactments— but balks at permitting couples to hold civil union ceremonies there. The law does not challenge the church organization’s beliefs about homosexuality – it merely requires that a pavilion that had been open to all for years comply with laws protecting everyone from discrimination, including gays and lesbians.

The Massachusetts parent disagrees with an aspect of her son’s public education, a discussion of the many different kinds of families he will likely encounter in life, including gay and lesbian couples. The law does not stop her from disagreeing, from teaching him consistently with her differing beliefs at home, or even educating her child in a setting that is more in line with her faith traditions. But it does not allow any one parent to dictate the curriculum for all students based on her family’s religious traditions.


Not only that but HRC also reveals that the National Organization for Marriage hired actors to peddle its lies. The bad audition tapes are here and here.

Two points here - lgbts are progressing big time in fighting religious right lies. Years ago, we would have never moved this fast against anti-gay lies.

And the other thing - the opposition is getting desperate and with desperation comes sloppiness. Let's continue exploit that sloppiness.
Wednesday mid day news briefs - One News Now edition (cause you can't have too much of One News Now)

LGBTs are loved again!!! The phony news service One News Now have devoted seven front page stories to the so -called dreaded gay agenda. Let's look at just a few:

Rick Warren disavows support for Prop. 8 - Rick Warren is in trouble. At least he can take comfort in the fact that he brought lgbts and the religious right on the same page - looking to rip his ass apart.

Congress to vote on 'Day of Silence' - I hope Congress does the right thing.

NY high court to hear homosexual 'rights' cases - As you can see by some of the comments, the "special rights" argument is getting old.

Homosexual lobby lands activist on White House faith group - Matt Barber feels that since there is a high risk of gay men catching HIV, then Harry Knox of HRC shouldn't be on the faith group committee. If we followed that stuff to the logical conclusion, then Obama shouldn't be president since HIV affects the African-American community at a high rate. Then again, scratch that. No need to give the "birthers" new ammunition.

Perspective: Who are the homophobes? - This is what I meant about getting sloppy. The guest columnist here actually cites a Paul Cameron study. I've already written my comment about it and I hope many others point it out also. By using the discredited work of Paul Cameron he answers his own question.

Like I said, the best part of a One News Now article is not the bias the phony news service entails or even the bad studies it sometimes cites as accurate. The best part is always the comments from so-called Christians.

Enjoy!