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Why No Gay People?


There is something missing in the adds for marriage equality in Washington State (and in the 3 other state facing marriage equality measures this year) and that is the total lack of gay people in the ads, instead like in Washington they seem to have every one and their uncle from pro equality republican positions to clergy and family talking about why marriage equality matters, how gay people want the same things out of marriage as every one else in society and why they are deserving of the right to marry. Yet there are no gay people making the case, which even thought the ads that are being put out are good and do carry the message well and pull at the heartstrings of the views (like the video after the jump) it would seem to me, and meany others that to have gay people make the case would be a good way of going about it.  As we are the ones that this decisions ultimately affects why aren't we the ones talking about why marriage is important to us instead of having our straight allies.  Not to diminish the importance of out straight allies in the fight for equality.

To me it almost comes across as we as people are "still" not quite normal and right and need people that are to step up to the plate and make the pitch for us, like they are transforming our message from some strange  foreign language into something that is understandable to society at large.  To me that in a way feeds into the into that notion that those on the other side the bigots and anti equality crowed like to paint us as, as if we are something inherently different and foreign, and that because of these qualities we are somehow sinister and a secret threat to the family to children and to what they consider to be normal.   It would seem to me that showcasing Gay people and most especially gay couples and families as what we are which is normal, and really no different they the viewers them selves we could build a bridge and one that will help to get even more voters onto our side and help to quill the fears that those who fight against us try to instill in the public so that they will vote against our rights.

How ever it seem that if you listen to the marketing experts and their pollsters in order to win we need to shove an represnetiation of gay people into the background and it seems almost interly out of the picture in favore of the types of ads that are being run, because as those that are in charge of coming up with the messaging  like Andy Sezkeres 
 ""The moderate tough guys we need to flip to win a couple of these races are still the ones who say that gays are gross," said Andy Szekeres, a Denver-based fundraising consultant who has worked on several state campaigns and had access to focus group data. "Pushing people to an uncomfortable place, it's something you can't do in a TV ad," said Szekeres, who is gay" 
To me as an outsider at least it would seem unlikely that someone that sees gay people as gross is going to vote in favor of gay rights, and it would seem that even having straight people tell them how not gross gay people are and how they should vote for their rights is a very likely thing to change their mind.  One would think that showing the person that gay people are not gross but are just like him and why they want the equal rights would be a better way to go about getting said person to vote for gay rights.  Like has been said by others have said how are we supposed to get them comfortable with gay people if we don't show them gay people.

and there are those in the gay community and in position of powers over the campaigns like in Main 
"Matt McTighe, Mainers United for Marriage's campaign manager, has been quoted as saying, "I'm a gay man, and the general rule of thumb for me is that an ad that meets my emotional needs is not necessarily the thing that's going to change a typical voter's mind about gay or lesbian people."
Which to me comes off as if the gay community wants to see some sort of almost gay extravaganza that will turn off voters, I know on my part and from that of the gay community that I interact with this is not the fact.  I don't see why we cant have adds like the fallowing examples which just illustrate how normal gay people are and how similar our reasons for wanting marriage are to those of the straight world. 



How is it that this is not destructive in Australia and dose not turn off those that they are trying to get to support gay rights yet something like it is not appropriate for the marriage battle in the states, or how about this video that is not airing as an ad but is part the camping to get people to help out with the fight in the states that are facing ballot misuses on marriage equality in this case Main.

Again it is no gay extravagant but it dose feature real gay people talking about why marriage is important to them!





Comments

  1. Agreed. The ads SHOULD feature same sex couples but the appearance of those couples selected is crucial. If it's a female couple, they must NOT be butch looking Marlboro chicks who look like they just competed in a rodeo. If it's a male couple, neither individual should look like the Brian character in "The New Normal." In both cases, the couples need to look like what the general public considers regular-looking people. If that isn't done then, yes, the general public will be grossed out and it just might summon their inner bigoted-asshole just in time to pull the lever in the voting booth. For similar reasons, had I been responsible for casting for "The New Normal", I would have used quite masculine-looking characters, if not outright bears. The way to crater stereotypes is to present their polar opposite.

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  2. Once again, we are the invisible people, in our own campaign no less. I agree with Dave that the lgbt couples should be carefully picked so as not to scare the horses, but at least some of the ads should feature the very people the law impacts.

    Yeah, I'm ever so tired of seeing the same same stereotypical gays on tv. Over polished, over dressed, over concerned with fashion, looks, weight, etc. How about some usual, dare I say it, normal looking gays. Guys you wouldnt look twice at, guys who surprise people when they find out they are gay. Those are the guys I want to see on tv. And whats with all the straights playing gays? Like there are no gay actors? Or would that be to scary as well? Actual gays playing !gasp! gays! oh my lord i need the smelling salts, there are actual GAYS on our tv. Jeeze

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