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WATCH: These Gay Irishmen Are Voting No on Marriage Equality

WATCH: These Gay Irishmen Are Voting No on Marriage Equality

Keith-mills-and-paddy-manning-x400

In a new campaign for an antigay Irish organization, two men who say they are gay explain their reasons for voting against marriage equality in Ireland.

In what can only be described as intellectual acrobatics, two gay men star in a new video urging Irish voters to join them in voting against same-sex marriage in Ireland's Friday referendum on the issue, reports American LGBT site Towleroad.

"If this amendment passes, we won't be able to privilege a mother-and-father model for a child in adoption," Paddy Manning, an Irishman who claims to be the last person to be arrested for homosexuality in Ireland before it was decriminalized in 1993, says in the video. "That's not fair; and we should vote no to that."

The video was produced by antigay Irish organization Mothers and Fathers Matter, and utilizes the same misleading arguments about what parts of Irish law the marriage measure would change, as the antigay group has been accused of seeking to confuse voters in rural counties and those still-undecided voters.

"If you approve the government's amendment, you will be saying that there's no distinction between the union of a man and woman and between two men or two women," says the other gay man in the video, Keith Mills. "There is a difference between our relationships, and to pretend otherwise is wrong."

The clever use of the phrase "the government's amendment" frames the ballot question as overreach by the ruling party, Fine Gael, which has supported bringing marriage equality to the Emerald Isle. The video neglects to mention that recent polls show support for marriage equality among Irish citizens hovering near 70 percent.

Relying on arguments that have failed to sway more than 60 state and federal courts in the United States, both men in the video assert that marriage is primarily about children. Both claim that voting no isn't about passing judgment on same-sex couples, while also saying that the ideal family situation for any child is to have one man and one woman as parents.

But as equality advocates have noted with increasing frequency during recent weeks, when the anti-equality camp has ramped up its misleading messaging, the marriage referendum has nothing to do with adoption.

In fact, the single sentence which voters will consider adding to the Irish constitution will make no changes to adoption laws as they are currently written in Ireland. The adoption argument rings especially hollow considering that Irish lawmakers overwhelmingly approved extending adoption rights to same-sex couples last month.

The video uses some of the same cues utilized by the decidedly more uplifting, youth-oriented pro-equality videos produced over the past year. Those heartwarming videos include a slickly produced, star-studded ad encouraging Irish voters to bring their families to the polls with them Friday, an inspirational call for young people to vote yes, and most recently, a heartfelt, homemade video by a straight Irish dad who wants his son to grow up in a culture that will respect him, no matter who he loves.

Of course, the "Yes" campaign has dabbled in using scare tactics to get its message out -- but only with tongue planted firmly in cheek, as was the case with this Armagayddon video, skewering the End Times rhetoric of the anti-equality crowd.

Now watch something truly scary as two gay men urge voters to deprive them and every other LGB person in Ireland the freedom to marry the person they love:

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