Prop 8 Debate Hits YouTube

Homemade pleas on both sides of California's Prop. 8 ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage are sprouting up on sites like YouTube.com. Along with the major organizations urging residents to support their causes, voters in California and elsewhere are getting in on the action.

Homemade pleas on both sides of California's Prop. 8 ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage are sprouting up on sites like YouTube.com.

Along with the major organizations urging residents to support their causes, voters in California and elsewhere are getting in on the action.

One spot that advocates for Proposition 8 titled "The Hidden Agenda of Garriage (aka gay 'marriage')" shows photos of same-sex couples getting married, followed by lightning striking San Francisco and fires burning through California. The words, "Children are entitled to a father and a mother" appear over the photos of trees burning and lightning descending from the clouds.

Grant Johnson, who made the video, said the fires that erupted in California after the state supreme court ruling was "an elephant in the room," according to the Los Angeles Times.

Another "yes" video shows photos of fires blazing across California, and then photos from a gay pride parade. This poster also blamed the sanctioning of gay marriage for the fires.

On the flip side of the issue, Love Honor Cherish, a grassroots organization, has posted 19 videos, one of the most popular from a Jewish mother who says she wishes her son was still alive so he and his long-time partner Michael could marry. A YouTube search for "no on prop 8" delivers 2,190 results, while the same search for "yes on prop 8" results in only 225.

A regular video blogger, Kevin Briancesco, who goes by Ninja Poetry, spouts a clearly sarcastic argument against rights.

"I don't know about you," Briancesco says, "but I'm totally OK with having a tiered system of rights for people based on things they can't change about themselves. I mean, if U.S. history shows us anything, it worked out fantastic in regards to race, sex and ethnicity."

He eventually adds "Facts are facts. I don't see this amendment as anything more than blatant homophobia."

The videos cannot be filtered or regulated by Proposition 8 organizations, which could either help or hurt the official organizations campaigning on both sides of the issue. Responding to videos claiming the California fires are God's reaction to the marriage ruling, a Yes On 8 spokeswoman said they would not inject such messages into their television ads.

"That video... was not produced by the campaign or affiliated with the campaign," Yes On 8's Jennifer Kerns told the LA Times. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)

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