National Organization For Marriage: New Ad Features "Confused" Children

I think that the people behind this newish ad from panicky gay marriage freakout group National Organization for Marriage intended this to read as some sort of plaintive explication of how being asked to consider the possibility of gay marriage will make children fundamentally confused. This seems weird to me -- after all, it's not the concept of gay marriage that's likely to confuse children, it's homosexuality itself. Seems to me that once you get your kid over that hump, the concept of marriage becomes the easy part. Unless, of course, the child comes from one of the many, many broken homes and failed marriages of heterosexuals. Those are FILLED with confusion and sadness.

Here's the thing, now that these children have gotten a start in the world of commercial television, they'll be able to come to terms with the issue in the same safe, warm, and judgment-free environment that I did: high school drama club. ANOTHER BRILLIANT MANEUVER, NOM!

[WATCH.]

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Comments

[SpaceboySD]

"Mommy, what does hypocrite mean?"

[stylenease]

Wow, what intense bigotry can make people do....it's amazing to me sometimes.

[johnbdonovan]

What's amazing is that the attitude that people have universally regarded as normal for thousands of years is now redefined as "bigotry."

[FrReader]

People held the idea that black people should be treated as slaves for thousands of years, and it was universally regarded as normal.

Or maybe you think that shouldn't have been changed either?

[MarkInEugene]

What's disturbing and disappointing to me is the number of people willing to fund discriminatory campaigns and attend protest rallies just to ensure that a select group of taxpayers do not receive equal treatment under the law. Of all the things to spend their time and money on, millions choose oppression of gays and lesbians. That says a lot about American culture and the state of human consciousness.
What would humanity do if it had to deal with life forms on other planets. We would be utterly pathetic full of fear and prejudice, unable to handle the challenge. Learning to deal with homosexual individuals without fear and prejudice is a challenge before us. The nation needs to continue a dialogue and reach a more authentic approach to human sexuality.
What an amazing world we could have, if we stopped wasting our time, wealth and energy on oppression.

[LaurenMarie984]

Wow, a confused child? Show me a kid that isn't constantly asking "why" or "what's that" and this ad still wont be valid.

Children don't understand concepts. That's what makes them children (mentally not physically).

[QuietNetworker]

Things like this show me how I'm out of touch.

I don't, for a moment see, what's the problem with
the first boy saying, "Grandma, if Grandpa were a
woman it would be okay for you two still be married."

What's so "confusing" about the idea that two people
he knows love each other and are married, shouldn't
be "unmarried" if one external feature were different.

I mean, how about we just replace it with, if Grandpa
were another religion...

...or Grandpa were another race.

...or Grandpa were disabled.

...or Grandpa were had an IQ of 110 and you Grandma,
and the rest of NOM have an IQ barely above 60.

Cheers,

Paulie Sabol

[PresidentRobertBooth]

"That would make me the first black member of the K/K/K!"

With your warped mindset, I wouldn't be surprised if you filled out an application form to join

[awesomerepublican]

I love this ad.
I couldn't agree more that NOM people are indeed confused.

[MarkBoston]

Why would anyone want to be Heterosexual anyway ?? So overly angry with everyone in the world who is unique or simply different from them? So much hate in the genes.. Who would want to wake up every morning and find a new person or group to bad mouth and create lies about ... It's exhausting .. Gays don't seem to have the "hate Gene" so many straights seem to be born with and do nothing to correct it.. Perhaps there is a Gay church who offers a de- programing of heterosexual attraction hated ?? Then they might become better citizens and learn to live happy lives.

[johnbdonovan]

The biggest fraud about this whole debate is this use of the word "hate." I know a lot of people who are against gay marriage, just as I am, and over a period of at least 15 years, I have yet to hear a comment from any of them that could be rightly associated with hate. I know there must be some people out there to whom the word could properly be applied, but on the whole I think it's a clever rhetorical device that gay activists are using that plays on people's fears that someone will think of them as hateful. It's a good way to exploit their good nature.

[green108]

My family says they only believe in love and not hate, and that they are not prejudiced. Yet they consider homosexuality an "abomination of God." Funny, it sure feels like hate.

[QuietNetworker]

John,

The problem is there are no "reasons" to oppose
marriage equality. At the core those reasons are
bigoted and exclusionary.

Is that "necessarily" hate?

I don't know; I'm open to it being something else.
However, what it is not is loving.

Cheers,

Paulie Sabol

[propitiousmoment]

Wait a second, I am fully heterosexual and I love it, and I am completely in support of the struggle for gay equality. It's not the sexual orientation that matters, it's the openness to difference, and the recognition that the human experience has many more shared components than differences. Just being hetero does not equal hate, and there are growing millions of hetero people in this country who support gay rights and have nothing but good will for the gay community. I'd blame the hate thing on religious culture and insularity, and lack of education, not sexual orientation. And certainly there is a lot of emotion coming from both sides, whether you label it hate or recognize it as a reaction to perceived threat or real injustice, it is not just a hetero thing.

[thaggas]

It would have been a lot cheaper and more genuine to get Helen Lovejoy screeching for thirty seconds:

"What about the children? Won't someone please think of the children?!?!"

[johnbdonovan]

You were a child once too. Thinking about the children means no less than thinking about the whole of humanity.

[BobSF94117]

I'll start taking the "confusion" of kids like these seriously as soon as they start committing suicide in numbers approaching the rate of gay kids.

[Tr 24]

Let me preface my next statements by saying that I feel sorry for these poor misguided children. However, I would rather see them take their own lives, than to have them "lose it" and take the lives of others and then their own lives; i.e. Columbine, VT, etc. Being ridiculed in school is something pretty much all children endure. Is it right? No. Is it fair? No, but most of us made it through it just fine. If these kids today, can't suck it up and take the good with the bad like the rest of us, perhaps they are better off. Life isn't a bed of roses you know.

[wdw505]

well said

[mj22]

this has nothing to do with school shootings. this is about gay kids committing suicide at a disproportionate rate. you're saying that if someone is bullied, they should just suck it up or kill themselves (rather than kill others)...i don't think these are the only two options. and i'm pretty sure that gay kids didn't shoot up columbine or virginia tech. nor am i sure that those school shootings were caused by bullying. an article in the NY Times just released info that the kids who committed the crimes at Columbine were not seriously harassed at school. they weren't in a trenchcoat mafia. and they killed indiscriminately. after years of research, they've concluded that the boys were simply two sociopaths who unfortunately crossed paths.
there may or may not be a correlation between bullying and mass murder, but there is certainly no proof that being the victim of bullying causes one to commit mass murder. fearing and punishing the victim of bullying instead of the perpetrator is a**backwards.

[loria]

Daddy, I'm confused. If Adam and Eve were the only two people on Earth, did their children have to marry their brothers/sisters? Does that mean it's okay for us to marry our brother and sister? I'm so confused.

And what about the dinosaurs. How come we have dinosaur bones, but the Bible doesn't talk about them. Didn't Noah have an ark big enough for them? I'm so confused.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

Kid: Daddy....why are you wearing a white robe, mask and pointed hat?

TR24: Because I dun not had that fancy edu-cay-shun

[Tr 24]

That would make me the first black member of the K/K/K!

[NelsonBig]

Ah. Your ignorant racism solidifies the op's post.

[loria]

Maybe they could take Jon and Kate's eight kids and they could talk about their confusion. Why does my mommy say such mean things to my daddy? Why did my daddy spend the night with another woman? Why does he go out to bars, and meet up with young women? Why is my mommy gone so much and why does she need to take a body guard with her? I'm so confused.

Before Jon and Kate's marrital problems were highlighted many thought they were a functional family, but we find out otherwise. The idea that kids aren't confused over the serial marriages and relationships that often happen with heterosexual couples is ridiculous. Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce with many messed up kids as a result. Homosexual marriage isn't a threat to marriage. Marriage seems to do well failing on its own right.

[MamaBird62]

Nothing new under the sun.
I've had a front row seat to the hate and fear parade for 20 years. My brother died of AIDS in '95, and we lived in a small southern town, so yeah, I've seen it all.
The big fear factor that is always used is that if children know anything at all about gay people other than "they're sinners, and bad people," it makes those children more likely to be gay. My (divorced) mother in law uses the classic "if we make this acceptable, more people will become gay." She didn't want my children at my brother's funeral, knowing that his gay friends would be present. They were there, she wasn't.
Younger people know others who are openly gay and see that they are people of character, though not always. No different than heterosexuals. They aren't threatened by the fact that not everyone is exactly like them. I'm hopeful things will continue to change.

[FlorenciaRemy]

When I saw this story, I had just visited a Blog site that channels the Catholic Church's official position about homosexuality. On May 9, Gil Bailie, the blog owner, wrote effusively about a Seattle man who is raising his small son in the Faith. The boy, named Asher, gave Gil a gift of a drawing he had made. The drawing shows Christ being crucified. Gil writes, without a touch of irony: "Ah, it's little moments like this."
There is a photo of Asher's drawing on Gil's blogsite: http://cornerstone-forum.blogspot.com/. (See the post for May 9.)
Though I was raised as a Southern Baptist, I can remember my own confusion when I learned about the crucifixion and saw depictions of it. The idea that a good man could be nailed to a cross by other men and left to die was horrifying, as was the idea of eternal suffering in a place called Hell. These images and ideas disturbed me for many years until I discussed them with a therapist. Now, when I learn of children being subjected to iconography about the crucifixion and hell, I am saddened and alarmed for them.
Why should love between two men be confusing to a child unless it is presented in a highly sexualized manner? And how can parents be so cavalier about exposing their children to depictions of men killing each other?

[punkindmb]

Reminds me of all the children at abortion clinics holding those grisly pictures. Those parents should be charged.

[propitiousmoment]

Agreed, 100%.