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05/11/2009
Video: Schooling the B.S (body senatorial), cooling the B.S (excrement bovine)
Tomorrow, the New York State Assembly is expected to vote on marriage equality. It's expected to easily pass, as it already has once before.
The State Senate will be the next/last obstacle between the bill and Gov. Paterson's signature. It's expected to be very close, even with that body's new Democratic majority.
So since we don't condone blackmail or brute force, we'll have to do the next best thing towards getting the fence-sitting senators to topple over into equality's backyard: Tackling popular anti-gay misconceptions with facts. And that's exactly what's happening in this school-focused Empire State Pride Agenda vid:
Come on, Senate: Listen to Duffy. We've already seen the unfulfilled threat of a swine flu pandemic shut down NY schools. No reason to let a never-to-be-realized threat of a forcibly-taught wedding pandemic shut the doors on fairness.
New York Senators Hedge on Gay Marriage [NYT]
*EARLIER: Video: Common fallacies vs. far-too-uncommon truths [G-A-Y]
Your thoughts
Meh. This approach was tried in California. It's probably a good ad to do, but it won't really sway too many. I still think the way to go is to delineate each and every way in which a civil union is not only a different institution, but a hurtful one as well.
Posted by: Bruno | May 11, 2009 2:20:57 PM
He has a nice persona, but Jumping Jehosophat! With all of the national and international attention to California's Prop 8 wouldn't one thinkg these well-intentioned people would study what's worked and not worked in other places before reinventing the, in this case, broken wheel?
After the H8TERS ran an ad showing a little girl running home with a book about two same gender parents, the state superintendent for California schools did an almost identical "don't worry/can't happen/won't happen" TV ad against it. And the Yes On H8ters fired back with an ad featuring a couple from Massachusetts saying "don't believe them...we were told the same thing and now our child is being forced to learn about gay marriage in school" that worked perfectly to discredit the opposite approach.
And another thing: this approach reinforces the idea that the "same sex marriage" is different than straight marriages AND WORSE that it's something bad that, of course, no sane, decent teacher would ever soil his or her students' ears with.
The approach SHOULD be about the REALITY of diversity in the world and the LARGER issue, e.g., "While marriage is not a formal subject in our curiculum, teaching that our country is great because it is founded on the belief in and respect for an individual's right to pursue his or her own happiness is. Religious doctrine has no place in civil marriage and no place in our public schools."
Posted by: Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com | May 11, 2009 2:47:28 PM
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