Thank God for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
If, when the dust settles at the ballot box this Nov. 4,
California voters definitively repudiate the California Supreme
Court's unjust gay marriage ruling by voting Yes on Proposition
8, Mayor Gavin Newsom will be a big part of the reason why.
Even the San Francisco Chronicle acknowledged on Monday that
in recent weeks, Mayor Newsom's role in the gay marriage debate
"has turned decidedly unheroic."
"He's become everyone's worst nightmare," said Barbara
O'Connor, a professor of political communications at Sacramento
State University
Gay marriage is coming "whether you like it or not," Mayor
Newsom intones in news clips featured in the first round of
Yes-on-Proposition-8 ads, looking unbearably smug and arrogant in
dictating the future of marriage for the rest of California from
his San Francisco perch. (See the ads for yourself at www.protectmarriage.com.)
Public opinion polls showed a dramatic surge in support for
Prop 8 after these Yes-on-Propostion-8 ads featuring Newsom hit
the airwaves. Faced with a dramatic drop in public support once
the real potential consequences of gay marriage for parents,
public schools, church groups and others are highlighted, gay
marriage advocates have responded with a rebuttal ad. (See it at
www.noonprop8.com.)
Their allegedly pro-gay marriage message? Labeling the
concerns that public schools will teach about gay marriage, if we
permit gay marriage to remain the law of the land, as just
"lies!"
Right. What do gay marriage advocates think public schools
should teach about marriage if gay marriage is the law of the
land? Could we have a reasonably honest discussion please about
what you have in store for California's first-graders?
Instead of standing their ground and defending their moral
views, gay marriage advocates are simply pretending to voters
that legalizing gay marriage won't affect anyone else at all.
Marriage is a publicly affirmed status -- a shared social
ideal -- not just a private act. When the government says gay
unions are the ideal -- exactly the same as husband and wife -- a
whole lot of people who disagree are going to find life gets a
whole lot harder, especially when it comes to raising our
children.