07/25/2008
Gay Marriage Ban Supporters Use Kindergarten Scare Tactics
They must be feeling slightly desperate given the poll numbers showing lack of support for the ban, because now they're bringing the kids into it:
"Backers of a November initiative to ban same-sex marriage in California plan to tell voters in the state ballot pamphlet that the constitutional amendment would protect children as young as kindergarten age from being taught in school about the virtues of gay and lesbian matrimony. 'If the gay marriage ruling is not overturned, teachers will be required to teach young children there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage,' supporters of Proposition 8 said in ballot arguments that went on public display this week at the secretary of state's office. It's all nonsense and scare tactics, opponents of the measure said Thursday. Steve Smith, strategist for the No on 8 campaign, said opponents of the measure will decide by next week whether to sue, which is the only way a ballot argument can be changed before the election."
Posted 12:45 PM EST by Andy in California, Education, Gay Marriage, News | Permalink
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"nonsense" & "scare tactics"?
why mince words here and call it for what it really is-LIES!
Posted by: alguien | Jul 25, 2008 12:51:52 PM
Yeah...scary lies!! What a bunch of morons! I wonder what their rebuttals are when someone brings up gay marriage in Europe and here in Canada. Kids haven't completely gone crazy up here. And last I was in Europe, they pretty much were still behaving badly. But then again Europeans have always been bad(the good kind though)!
Posted by: Shabaka | Jul 25, 2008 1:12:17 PM
One thing I've yet to hear about in the media is an interesting difference between the LGBT "minority" and the "minorities" from previous generations that experienced blatant discrimination by the US government - Many people in the LGBT community have achieved VERY high levels of power and financial success in all aspects of our society. In the past, people of color and women did not even have the access to social, business, and political opportunities.
We have a moment in history where a "minority" (yes, the quotation marks are intentional and facetious) COULD step up to the plate and say, "WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS LEGAL DISCRIMINATION" and put their money behind their mouths.
Not to pick on these particular people, but...c'mon! : David Geffen, Rosie O'Donnell, Anderson Cooper, Ellen Degeneres, Nathan Lane, the entire BRAVO network, Gore Vidal, Sam Champion, David Hyde Pierce, Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang, Billie Jean King, Andrew Sullivan, Ed Koch, Suze Orman, Annie Leibovitz, Marc Cherry, Jodie Foster, Lily Tomlin, etc., etc.
Aren't you all just a LITTLE BIT angry how the Federal Government denies your family Civil Marriage? And if not for you and your family, for the bazillion other fellow LGBT and their children both in and out of the closet?
Posted by: John Bisceglia | Jul 25, 2008 1:33:26 PM
People never cease to disgust me.
Posted by: Robin | Jul 25, 2008 1:33:32 PM
What do kindergarten teach children about marriage now? Do they teach kids the difference between being married and living together? What do they teach them about single parent families?
Posted by: Jen | Jul 25, 2008 1:35:48 PM
Long before gay marriage was a gleam in Gavin Newsom's eye the little girls I played with as a child used to stage marriages for their Ken dolls.
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Jul 25, 2008 1:41:56 PM
Jesus Christ on a cross.... Fear! Fear! Fear! Haven't we Americans smartened up enough to recognize attempts to scare us into submission? I hope so. NO one has STILL given me an explanation of how gay marriage will affect hetero marriage in any way. THis just goes to show that the "religious right" and other judgmental, prejudiced and very afraid groups have no shame or standards in making arguments.
Posted by: noteasilyoffended | Jul 25, 2008 1:42:41 PM
'If the gay marriage ruling is not overturned, teachers will be required to teach young children there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage,'
Answer is in the question. There IS no difference, and there SHOULD NOT be any difference between "traditional" (read: straight) marriage and this new-fangled gay marriage. So ridiculous.
Furthermore, I don't remember being "taught" ANYTHING about marriage in school except maybe Henry VIII's wives in history class, and look how well that turned out.
Posted by: Matt | Jul 25, 2008 1:48:52 PM
Awww...that's cute! They're pretending that the kids are actually still learning things in school!
I was going to say the same thing as Matt, that I don't remember being taught about marriage in school. I have a suspicion that it's really not much of a school subject. Do they also teach children about divorce, alimony, palimony, common-law marriage, annulments, proper etiquette for bridal showers and who gets the ring when the wedding is called off? I didn't think so.
Posted by: paul | Jul 25, 2008 2:15:48 PM