Sunday, May 15, 2011

NOM knows that it lied in the New York ad and does not care

As far as I know, NOM has YET to respond to the charges that it made inaccurate claims with its commercial against marriage equality in New York.

Instead NOM is attempting a cynical ploy of shifting the argument.

A columnist from the site Queerty made a good point in a piece (although the title raises eyebrows and the piece itself is a bit more graphic I would have liked) when he called out NOM for lying about Massachusetts school curriculum but brought up the fact that children should know about being lgbt:

I for one certainly want tons of school children to learn that it’s OK to be gay, that people of the same sex should be allowed to legally marry each other, and that anyone can kiss a person of the same sex without feeling like a freak.

As I said before, the Queerty piece got graphic on several occasions. And this caught the eye of NOM's blog:

NOM’s TV ad in New York on the consequences of gay marriage produced this response from a well-known Queerty.com blogger, who boasts openly that the NOM ad’s claim that gay marriage will be taught in public schools is clearly true.

“In response [to NOM’s ad] we say, 'NOOO! We’re not gonna make kids learn about homosexuality, we swear! It’s not like we’re trying to recruit your children or anything.' But let’s face it—that’s a lie.”
He goes on to say “We want educators to teach future generations of children to accept queer sexuality. In fact, our very future depends on it.”

His very future?

The NOM blog goes on to highlight some of the most graphic parts of the Queerty piece as a way to incite its supporters.

This sort of thing is typical of the entire organization. Allow me to break it down:

1. NOM puts out an ad which feature an already debunked claim about gay marriage and school curriculum in Massachusetts, amongst other lies

2. Several people point these lies out in various manners.

3. Rather than address the accusations that it lied in the ad, NOM instead highlights the most graphic thing written about the ad as a way to generalize about marriage equality and by extension, those support marriage equality.

While the Queerty piece made good points, I don't necessarily share its need to get graphic nor do I share the outright way the piece seems to go appeal to the jugular rather than to sound judgement. Furthermore, those things the piece criticizes, i.e. breaking down the argument of marriage equality to that of simple love and fairness, are some of the very things marriage equality is about.

But having said my piece about that,  NOM's ad is still a distortion. And the organization has still yet to respond to these charges - which has not only been brought out by me, but various other sources.

And furthermore, the way NOM responded - choosing to highlight one not necessarily polite response to the ad, rather than address the accusations that the ad itself is wrong -  proves that not only NOM knows that the ad is a lie, but also it doesn't care.

As long as the ad scares enough people to be against marriage equality, then the ends justify the means.



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