A group of gay couples in Southern California is planning to put a personal face on the same-sex marriage issue by airing a series of television ads featuring their families. The five spots are scheduled to run in the days before the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. They’ll target counties where high numbers voted for Proposition 8, the Nov. 4 ballot initiative that stripped gay couples of the right to wed in California. [AP]
New California Ad Campaign: “Our Family May Look Different from Yours, but We’re Not”
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Sean
this is what we should have done before and continue doing! We need to show America that we are Americans, families, and neighbors just like them! We have our uniqueness to celebrate but this is also the time to celebrate (and I use that word purposely) how much we are the same in how we live our lives. There is much more to the Gay American label then just the version promoted by West Hollywood.
DaveO
Put this thing on the top of every gay-oriented web page every freaking day for the next 2 years. This is the approach that would have won it for us in November and will win it for us in 2010. THey’ve only raised $5000 so far, according to their website. This needs to go big.
Bruno
Yes, good stuff. I’m sure this type of thing would’ve been done before the vote if we hadn’t put all our trust into a losing campaign. Live & learn.
Ted C.
Canada had some really effective ads about same-sex marriage back in 2004. I hope the campaigners in California take note.
Here are a couple of them:
http://psa.bgrdesign.com/Bedroom.mpg
http://psa.bgrdesign.com/Message.mpga
hyhybt
Why bother with this *now*, though? Two months ago would have been great, but now it’s both too late and too early. Since people tend to have such short memories, wouldn’t it make more sense to save the money for now and run ads when the issue is actually on the ballot again?
John Ireland
I’m so happy to read this thread and coverage of our ad campaign. The Canadian ads linked here are great. Ours are, in fact, inspired by them. They’re simple and emotionally-driven. Most ads in CA supporting marriage equality have relied on logic. We’re going with emotion this time.
As to the timing, marriage equality continues to be a national issue, especially with Obama asking Rick Warren to lead the invocation at his inauguration. This will give us a bump in the media–and already has–well beyond California’s borders.
We chose to do this now because we feel that actual gay and lesbian faces are missing from this discussion and we would like to help to shape the discussion as we approach the next inevitable ballot measure. Many of us are parenting and this is our most important work… to make the world a more accepting place for our children. We do not need an election cycle to prioritize telling our stories.
Truth is, we are behind on our fundraising goal, so we’ve got our work cut out for us in the next few weeks before the inauguration. Wish us luck, send us $5, and tell other like-minded folks about our effort.
-John Ireland
GetToKnowMeFirst.org