Why People Aren't Hearing the Gay Message

In 2009, Frank Schubert and Jeff Flint won a prestigious award for their work in passing Prop 8. If you don’t know their names, you’re probably not alone. They weren’t politicians or religious leaders who held awful signs or spat vitriol through megaphones. These two were provocateurs of the professional kind, using focus groups and surveys to find a fracture in the arguments in favor of same-sex marriage.

As public relations gurus, they played and prodded and experimented with effective topics, until they found a gold mine of fear: gays and education. They helped develop the message that gay marriage would infiltrate classrooms and teach children about gay sex. This polarizing topic riled the masses and played a huge role in the passing of Prop 8. Those who want to really scare their constituency pull out this gem because it gets a reaction. It doesn’t matter whether or not the tactic is based in truth. Propaganda doesn’t have to be.

Isn’t it about time that we turn this propaganda around on those who subjugate us? Our opponents have found the topics that light a fire under the butts of their constituency, while we are floundering with the same ol’ messaging: we pay taxes, we deserve civil rights, we love and commit just like you, we raise healthy children, et al. The arguments we use to advocate for gay rights are logical and sensible, but unfortunately they don’t seem to be working outside of the LGBT community. We need to quit focusing on the arguments that we find most germane and amend our public relations and marketing strategies to address the issues which resound with the “common” American.

Old Gay Message: We want the freedom to marry!
New Gay Message: Do you want big government looking into what goes on in YOUR bedroom?

The gay message thus far has hit half the nail on the head by invoking the word “freedom,” but has failed by connecting it to marriage -- which doesn’t mean anything to heterosexuals who already have that freedom. If we really want to scare those freedom-loving, bible-belt-living folks, we need to let them know that big government is coming into our bedrooms and telling us how we need to live. If it can happen to us, it can just as easily happen to them. Just for the record, I’m pretty sure those sexually-repressed evangelicals have some freaky stuff happening behind closed doors … this will scare plenty of those closeted-kinksters.

Old Gay Message: We’re not evil child molesters and pedophiles!
New Gay Message: Our enemies want to divert attention from their wrongdoing.

Is it just a coincidence that the Mormon Church, famous for polygamy, including marrying and impregnating adolescent girls, is demonizing gay marriage? Or, that the Catholic Church, who abandons orphans and has a rap sheet for child-rape and molestation says that we are immoral? Thus far, we’ve been loath to mudsling or counterattack the claims of religious leaders, but we need to make it clear that if Middle America should be afraid of anyone around their kids, it definitely isn’t gay people. (Yeah, I said it.)

Old Gay Message: Gay prejudice causes violence toward gays.
New Gay Message: Gay prejudice brings violence into your community -- and around YOUR kids!

When people hear about gay hate crimes, they picture the incident happening outside a bath house in the middle of downtown New York City. We have to reiterate that these crimes often happen in places like Laramie, Wyoming and other suburban and rural areas. Hate crimes don’t just affect the gay community. They are usually targeted at people who fit a certain physical description, which means that literally anyone (and their children) could be a target of a hate crime.

These are a few examples of how to think about gay messaging. It isn’t just about us -- gay rights concern everyone. It’s true that gay prejudice is a gross and egregious violation of our civil rights, but we have to shift the paradigm and make the everyday person  aware of how our rights and their rights are related. Otherwise, we'll just keep spinning our wheels with messages that fall flat with audiences who desperately need to hear them.

Photo Credit: dotbenjamin