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04/25/2011
Marc Mutty all like, 'No -- by 'dangerous' and 'hyperbole' and 'not completely accurate' I meant 'AWESOME!''
Remember those clips from the forthcoming Question 1 documentary wherein Marc Mutty, the director of Maine's "Yes on One" campaign, pretty much admitted that his side's ads were disingenuous, at best? Yea, well: Mutty has now broken his silence. But rather than actually explain what he meant or take some sense of responsibility for what he admitted were hyperbole-filled ads, Marc's playing the "out of context" card. Oh, and the victim card, too.
This from the Portland Press Herald, some snippets and link to Mutty's full "explanation":
"• First and foremost, let me say directly that I fully support the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman."
...
"• Second, this campaign was a long, painful process, made all the more difficult by the fact that the campaign staff and I were harassed and threatened repeatedly, to the point that I was concerned for the safety of my staff and our families.
Our computers were hacked, our campaign office was vandalized, death threats were made and our family members were shunned and verbally attacked.
...
It was with this in mind that I said I would never do such a campaign again, knowing the toll it would take on my personal health, and on the well-being of my staff given the degree of antagonism that our position generated from some gay activists and their supporters.
• Third, the Nemitz column extracted video clips out of context and made it appear that I did not believe the truth of our claims that homosexual marriage would be taught to children in the schools.
This is again a misrepresentation; I firmly believe that children should be taught to respect the dignity of all people.
However, legalizing same-sex marriage will redefine our core understanding of marriage as we know it, and have known it since the beginning of time, forever."
...
"• And finally, this campaign was personally and professionally painful and difficult."
Maine Voices: Yes on 1 campaign worthwhile [PPH]
Simply unreal. This is a man who chose, by how own volition, to step up and take -- TO TAKE BACK! -- a legislatively-granted civil right via a crude campaign filled with rhetoric that he himself now calls "dangerous." And yet *HE* is the victim here?!
This writer worked very closely with Maine's pro-equality campaign and all involved. Were computers hacked? Offices vandalized? Death threats waged? Well, all we can do is take Mr. Mutty on his word on that. But if these incidents did happen, then they (a) went unreported, and (b) were not anywhere close to representative of the intensely positive campaign that "No on One" ran. And if any incidents like this did happen (and Mr. Mutty isn't planning on years later admitting that these claims are also hyperbolic misrepresentations) then they are born out of the ugly tone of this highly-charged situation -- a tone that is set not by the very human idea of people who want to be treated with dignity and respect by the country they love but rather those who do attempt to limit the spectrum of normalcy and its associated rights/protections/benefits!
We would repudiate such incidents, nonetheless. But that doesn't change that fact that Mr. Mutty's "professionally painful and difficult" was more of a personal insult to LGBT people and their allies then he could ever possibly know. It's a shame to see that he's still campaigning.
***
*REMINDER: Just one of the things Mutty said about his campaign. Not really sure how this even could be de-contextualized. But then again, "pro-family" is not this writer's native language:
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