The No on Prop. 8
campaign to defeat the California ballot initiative
against same-sex marriage unveiled its first television ad
today. The spot, the campaign's first, was shown to
the press Monday morning at the San Francisco office
of Ogilvy Public Relations and subsequently posted to
the official No on Prop. 8 website. The ad will air
statewide.
The ad features Sam and Julia Thoron, a
California couple married for 46 years. Together, they
say, they've raised three children -- including
a lesbian daughter. In the ad they urge Californians not to
strip away the right of their daughter and thousands of
other California couples to be married.
"Our
daughter deserves to be treated in her life with the same
dignity and respect as her two straight brothers," Sam
Thoron told the media at Monday's press
conference. "That includes the right that she now
has to get married. That is why we are opposed to the
proposition."
The website urges
supporters of No on 8 to make a cash donation "to
keep the ad, and our message, on the air as much as
possible." A $125 donation goes to support the
airing of the ad in Palm Springs during the NBC hit
Heroes, while $2,500 pays for the ad to air
twice during The Daily Show in San Francisco.
Although other
organizations, like Proud Parenting -- which recently
debuted an anti-Prop. 8 ad that features the children
of gay parents -- have already had spots on the
airwaves (and the Internet), this will be the No on
Prop. 8 campaign's first official effort. The ad was paid
for by No on Prop. 8 and Equality for All and also
received major funding from Equality California and
the Human Rights Campaign.
A recent
California Field Poll showed that 55% of likely voters in
the state opposed the proposition, which would rescind
the state supreme court ruling making
same-sex marriage legal in the state.
Thirty-eight percent of voters are in favor of the measure.
(The Advocate)
