The anti-gay marriage forces tell another BIG lie in Maine

Today is the hearings for ENDA. I hope to have video and commentary later. Keep your fingers crossed.

Via Goodasyou.org and Americablog Gay comes the news of lazy anti-gay marriage folks in Maine.

It appears that they are running the same fear stories about gay marriage and children with the same ad used in California's Proposition 8 fight:

California ad:




Maine ad:



And from Jeremy from Goodasyou.org comes the news that the woman in the Maine ad doesn't even teach in public schools:

Ms. Bansley is the state director of the Concerned Women For America of Maine, and has appeared onstage at many Stand For Marriage Maine rallies. She has made her interest clear time and time again.

And while she is a teacher, she doesn't teach at a public institution. She teaches at Calvary Chapel Christian School. A Christian school where she is already freely stifling pro-gay speech, at least according to one of her very own students. To identify Ms. Bansley as merely a "teacher" is like simply calling Barack Obama a CEO of an important entity.

In truth, Ms. Bansley is one of Stand For Marriage Maine's own (paid?) staffers who is motivated almost exclusively by her faith. It is almost unbelievable that the campaign would use her, a private Christian school teacher, to speak on this civil matter and and think that nobody would notice.

And by the way, the Wirthlins (the man and woman in the commercial) joined 'Mad Dad' David Parker in his ridiculous losing lawsuit against Massachusetts. I did not talk about them as much because Parker's antics attracted so much attention.

But don't be fooled because they are being as deceptive as Parker, especially in the part of the commercial when the father said:

"The courts said we had no right to object or pull him out of class."

Actually that is a clever misconception. Yes the courts did say that the reading of King and King was not an issue of human sexuality, therefore it had nothing to do with the opt-out policy.
But Mr. Wirthlin is clearly deceiving people when he said the courts said the parents could not pull their children out of class. The courts actually advised parents who object to do just that:

In the 38-page decision, Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf, of the U.S. District Court, said that families who don’t agree with the teachings of the public school, have the choice of private schools or homeschooling.

And no their case had nothing to do with gay marriage in Massachusetts. The courts affirmed the idea that not all families are the same two-parent heterosexual model.

It's good to remember that both the Wirthlins and Parker lost at every avenue of the courts. But now I am beginning to see why the religious right pushed the case to the limits despite losing at every turn. It has provided them with huge dividends in the court of public opinion.

It's religious right distortion technique #2 - repeat a lie no matter how many times it has been refuted.

Will the lies win in Maine? Let's hope not.

But like Americablog Gay says:

. . . if this pisses you off, donate to the No on 1/Protect Maine Equality here.

Related posts:

The Maine anti-gay marriage forces tell a huge lie in its first ad

What are the top religious right lies about the gay community?