Homophobic group tries to shock people with ads featuring INTERRACIAL (Gasp!), GAY (*faint*) couples

[ck4829]

A black man and a white man — kissing! Each other! In the newspaper!

A Salt Lake City anti-gay organization bet $15,000 on a racism/homophobia/shock value trifecta when it placed full-page ads that prominently depict an interracial gay couple smooching in recent Sunday editions of the city’s two daily newspapers.

The ads attacked the Common Ground Initiative, a proposed legislation package now in committee in the Utah legislature, that would offer inheritance and medical decision-making rights to same-sex couples, and make it illegal for landlords and employers to evict or fire individuals based solely on their sexual orientation. The Common Ground Initiative does not address the issue of same-sex marriage.

America Forever, a.k.a. America Forever Foundation, paid for the ads, which implore readers to “Stand Up & Stop the Homosexual Movement” and declare “Shame on Utah Gays,” who are described as being “Anti-Species.”

The bulk of the ads, beyond the kissing photo and screaming headlines, consist of bigoted screeds presented as legal analysis. One example: “By holding hands and kissing in a public place (such as) an apartment complex playground, in a family neighborhood, at a party, or to present oneself as a homosexual person in the workplace, is stating and displaying that he or she practices sodomy, and if backed by law, will force the acceptance of homosexuality.”

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2009/02/23/anti-gay-america-forever-seeks-to-shock-with-newspaper-ads/

This is the Christian Right's agenda laid bare for all to see. If you're gay, they WANT you to be evicted from your home, and they WANT you to be fired from your job, and it's just because of your sexual orientation.

And this is really telling as well, we can be pretty sure the fringe of the Christian Right doesn't want to stop with gays.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I think you are right

I think they are pandering to racists and bigots, because think about it--who else would want to shut out folks who just want to live quietly and do their jobs? I've been around gay people all my life, and NEVER remember seeing them kissing in public. For that matter, I don't remember that many heterosexual couples kissing in public. The only ones who aren't bigots who would believe this clap-trap would be folks who think they don't know gays. When gays come out, people are generally surprised because they are--so normal.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. If gay people are "anti-species" because we do not procreate

Why do Catholic clergy get a free pass?

[marmar]

3. Oh, now you're introducing logic into the debate.....Fundies don't do logic well.

:dunce:

[Brazenly Liberal]

4. For a long time, they didn't

The fundies used to be rabidly anti-Catholic. It wasn't all that long ago, either. They said Catholics weren't Christians. (To them, at that time, saying someone wasn't Christian was the ultimate insult) They cycled and recycled all the old anti-Catholic prejudices.

Then the right wing leaders and the fundie fathers realized they could combine forces and pool their ignorance for mutual advantage. The rw politicos gave the fundies access to power and the fundies gave the rw a large base of gullible people (ie voters). Abortion was the glue that held them together and that made Catholics all of a sudden very desirable as cohorts.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. But that does not change the illogic

Gay people are a dire threat to humanity, because we do not procreate. Catholic priests do not procreate, and are far more pushy that gay people when it comes to recruiting others to follower their lifestyle. Therefore, Catholic priests are at least as dire a threat to humanity as gay people, correct?

:eyes:

[Brazenly Liberal]

6. I'm so sorry, TechBear, but

explaining the logic of fundies is waaaaaaaaaaay above my pay grade. I suspect that if you were to ask them, you'd get the same response they give whenever they are questioned about inconsistencies and lapses in logic - it's all a matter of faith. (Said with an air of smugness that makes you want to smack them upside the head with a 2x4)

[sinkingfeeling]

7. There you go again, using logic!

[Stevenmarc]

8. Procreation is a non-issue

The next time you have to deal with someone that brings up the procreation issue simply ask what state requires fertility testing prior to granting a marriage license.

[TechBear_Seattle]

9. Oh, trust me: I've done far more than that

I was the sponsor for Washington's Initiative 957, which would have required married couples to procreate within three years or else have their marriage license revoked.

But marriage is beside the point: I was responding to the above mentioned anti-gay ads which described gay people as "anti-species," presumably because of the old canard about our willingness to procreate whether in marriage or not.

[LeftishBrit]

10. How vile.

Why 'anti-species'? Because exclusive homosexuals don't reproduce? Well, that is a big problem because the world is supporting fewer and fewer people every day, and if we don't watch out, soon there will be too many huge unpopulated spaces of nature and wildlife, and the planet will suffer badly from the underpopulation. Anyway, wouldn't the same argument make the Pope 'anti-species'?

[skooooo]

11. Frankly the whole man-on-dog concept was more shocking. nt