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Today Washington United for Marriage, the broad coalition working to defend Washington state’s marriage law, kicked off their Approve Referendum 74 broadcast media campaign with the television ad “Boehler”. From the press release:
The ad features Robin and Steve Boehler of Mercer Island who talk about their hope that all three of their daughters can marry the person they love, including their lesbian daughter.
The Boehlers’ oldest daughters, Lindsay and Emily are married and they are already grandparents to two girls, with another one on the way next month. Steve and Robin Boehler are speaking up for their youngest daughter, Sara, who’s engaged to be married to her longtime partner.
“We’ve been having thousands of conversations across the state with voters about why marriage matters and why it’s important to approve Referendum 74,” said Zach Silk, WUM’s campaign manager. “Personal stories, like the Boehlers’, resonate with people because everyone understands that marriage means something special not only to the couple, but to their family and friends.”
Steve: We have three daughters and they all should be able to marry the person they love.
Robin: When Sara told us she was a lesbian I was worried that people would treat her differently. I don’t want something less for Sara than I want for Lindsey and Emily.
Steve: I want her to have the same kind of joy that Robin and I have had.
Robin: Marriage is the way that we recognize a lifelong commitment that two people make to each other. When I lay my head down for the very last time I need to know that there’s someone that loves them and is taking care of them and thinking about them. And that’s what happens in a marriage.
The Pride Foundation ran ads in July and August featuring Washingtonians expressing a general support for the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples, but today marks the first ad specifically intended to persuade voters to Approve Referendum 74.
3 Comments
Bravo! Outstanding! This is the type of ad that will, hopefully, change hearts and minds.
Frankly, I’m tired of these “feel good” ads. They don’t work. Right before the election, the foes of LGBT equality will blanket the air waves with misleading and dishonest ads. This is their playbook, and they wil with it every time. We need to be prepared to call them out – loudly and repeatedly – on every single lie they put in their ads.
They will say, “We can’t let them redefine marriage for the rest of us.”
Reply: No, we are expanding the definition of marriage to include more people. We all agree that marriage is a great and good institution that brings stability to relationships and societies. Why would we – and you – NOT want to expand it to include more people?
They will say, “Marriage has never changed throughout history, for thousands of years it has been the union of one man and one woman.”
Reply: This is not true at all. A minimal knowledge of world history, even a cursory reading of the Bible, tells us this. A much more common “biblical” view of marriage is one man and many women.
They will say, “Schools will be forced to teach our youngest children that homosexuality is as good as heterosexuality.”
Reply: This is totally false. Marriage equality laws never address nor affect school curriculum in any manner whatsoever.
They will say, “Studies prove that children do better when raised by a mother and a father.”
Reply: This is not correct. Studies show that children do better when raised in a stable home environment; this is the critical factor in successful child-rearing, not the gender of the parents.
They will say: “I’m OK with them having civil unions. Why do they have to use the word marriage? After all, civil unions gives them the same rights.”
Reply: This is perhaps the most blatant display of discrimination that one can imagine. It conveys the message, loud and clear, that gays and lesbians are an inferior class of human beings and do not therefore deserve the exact same rights as other humans. Can you imagine saying this about any other minority group (“I’m OK with Jews having civil unions, but not marriage”)?
and so on…
I see no reason to believe that WUM won’t respond accordingly if the opposition throws out the usual arguments. But for now, it makes complete sense to me that WUM airs persuasion ads like this that will appeal to fence-sitters and squishy supporters.